Town banks on its British attraction

11月20日（六）上海日报 陈丽颖

    A SUBURBAN town in Shang-hai is hoping that a British-style commercial and residential complex will make it attractive to tourists and residents and help to fulfill and help to fulfill the city’s vision to have 3 million residents living there by 2010.

    The one-square-kilometer complex ,named Thames Town ,will copy typical in the city’s Songjiang New Town ,a new residential and tourist area located near Songjiang University City .

    “We are going to bring the original British culture and style to this town with typical UK sceneries to make it an appealing place to this town with typical UK sceneries to make it an appealing place to travel to and live in ,” said Zhang Jianmin ,a spokesman for Shanghai Henghe Real Estate Co Ltd ,the project developer.

    In addition to UK-style villas and apartments, a commercial complex covering a construction area of 80,000 square meters ,and with structure similar to Shanghai’s Xintiandi ,will be the main attraction ,he added .
The complex will be like a replica of a typical British town with its department stores and small shops .A specialized store will sell sportswear and accessories of Premier League clubs .British pubs and wax stores are also planned for Thames Town.

    In addition, family-run hotels will also be part of the complex. About 30 percent of the town’s construction have been finished so far.The complex will start operation at the end lf next year .Currently, the developer is inviting British businesses in London to invest in the complex..

    “As Shanghai will control the population of downtown residents to 9 million in 2010, the rapid development of new towns is a trend,” said Wang Liang ,an official with Shanghai Institute of Current Economic Research.

    “The idea of copying British towns is unique as culture plays an important part in attracting consumers .But such suburban area needs time to have enough consumers and it still risks little business for a certain period.

    Shanghai now has 9.8 million residents in the downtown area.

     Housing prices in Songjiang New Town average 5,000(US$602) to 6,000 yuan per square meter the developer said.

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