With two 54-storey office buildings to set up in each side of the Grand Gateway,the symbol shopping mall in Xujiahui after two years,the commercial center of Xujiahui area will be upgraded into a business trade circle,the Jiefang Daily reported today.

The double-tower style business buildings,the first in the city with nearly two billion yuan (US$240million)of investment,are to start construction soon.

The move aims to make Xujiahui an important business circle of the city's Southwest area,said an industry analyst.

The Xuhui District has rapidly grown into one of the four commercial centers of Shanghai since the year 1993when the Metro Line 1was constructed.

Many global renowned enterprises have built their headquarters in the Xujiahui area,such as Microsoft Global Technical Engineering Center and Mobil,driving up the demand of high-end office buildings.

The Xujiahui area is expected to become the city's tourism shopping center,public activity center,business center,technological innovation center and the Yangtze Delta technological trade and service center in the future.

To reach the goal,the Xuhui District has enlarged the Xujiahui area from 1.2square kilometers to seven square kilometers (Huaihai Road in the North,Zhongshan Road in the South,Yueyang Road in the East and Kaixuan Road in the West).