BEIJING, March 31 -- After two years of construction, the land around Shanghai's Yangshan Deepwater Port has been transformed into Lingang New City, meaning a new city close to port.

    The city made its debut at a promotional fair on Wednesday, with both Chinese and foreign companies scurrying to sign contracts with Lingang worth US$1.25 billion, with foreign investment totalling US$200 million.

    Yang Xiong, vice-mayor of Shanghai, said the development of the new city so close to Yangshan Deepwater Port was a strategic step towards the city's goal of building an international shipping centre.

    He said Lingang, that covers nearly 300 square kilometres and has a population of 800,000, has the most potential among the country's developing areas.

    At the southeastern tip of Shanghai, Lingang faces Pudong International Airport to the north and Yangshan port to the south.

    It has the advantage of having easy access to five modes of transportation: ocean, air, river, highway and railway, Yang said.

    Lingang is designed to be an equipment manufacturing base that will house automotive, ship, logistic, electronic and aerospace equipment, and will be a supporting stronghold for the emerging Yangshan port.

    Lingang has been earmarked for 36 billion yuan (US$4.5 billion) of fixed asset investments, of which 22.5 billion yuan (US$2.8 billion) has gone into infrastructure building, Yang said.

    Fixed asset investments will continue to grow at a rate of 50 per cent over the next few years and will reach 120 billion yuan (US$15 billion) by 2010, Lingang spokesman Zhong Huadong told China Daily.

    Meanwhile, the city's national Minhang Economical and Technological Development Zone has just received approval to expand into Lingang.

    Dong Shaocheng, general manager of Shanghai Minhang United Development Co Ltd, announced at the fair that 13.3 square kilometres of land in Lingang would be added to the 3.5-square-kilometre Minhang Development Zone.

    This means that the expanded area will enjoy all of the favourable policies the development zone has been granted.

    After visiting Lingang Logistics Park and Yangshan Deepwater Port, Tim Smith, chief commercial officer of Maersk Greater China, said he was impressed with the progress that had been made in such a short period of time.

    As a logistics group, Smith said Maersk aimed to create a world-level logistics platform in the Yangtze River Delta and he selected Lingang because its advantages were "incomparable."

    Maersk has been co-operating with Lingang from the very beginning and it plans to expand its investment in the near future.

    Shanghai Electric Group has also spotted Lingang's great market potential.

    The company has signed a strategic co-operation agreement with Lingang, its Chairman Wang Chengming said at the fair.

    Shanghai Electric signed 5 billion yuan (US$620 million) worth of contracts with Lingang on Wednesday, in its efforts to build a heavy-duty equipment manufacturing base on the land.

    Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, a leading automotive producer in the country, invested 2.5 billion yuan (US$312 million) in Lingang to build a new-energy car and engine manufacturing base. Enditem

    (Source: China Daily)