Jiading reveals details of 'new city' plan

Jiading District, home to one of Shanghai's five strategically planned "new cities" in outlying areas, on Tuesday unveiled detailed plans to accelerate its economic and social development over the next five years.

By 2025, the new city, with a planned area of around 160 square kilometers, will generate an annual output of 1 trillion yuan (US$151.87 billion), up from its current size of less than 600 billion yuan. The annual GDP of the entire district in northwest Shanghai will reach 360 billion yuan, Lu Fangzhou, Party secretary of the district, told a press conference.

Positioned as a key hub along the Shanghai-Nanjing development axis and a national experimental zone for smart transport, Jiading will notably raise its industrial strength in the coming five years. Next-generation auto technologies, mainly connectivity, self-driving, car sharing and electrification, coupled with intelligent sensors and the Internet of Things, will be built into a 100-billion-yuan level industry, while the online new economy will generate overall output of around 400 billion yuan a year.

Two 100-billion-yuan-level science and technology parks have been planned by the local government, one in partnership with scientific research institutes and the other with universities and colleges, as Jiading continues to extend its innovation efforts to drive its economy. By 2025, the number of new and high-tech enterprises in the new city will exceed 1,400, according to its plan.

A comprehensive transport network is planned to cut travel times within the new city to a maximum of 30 minutes, a trip to bordering counterparts within 40 minutes and Shanghai's neighboring cities within 45 minutes, and smart transport will be available across the new city by 2025.

To further improve its public services, a batch of high-grade educational and medical facilities will be built and in use by 2025, and a number of cultural and sports events with national and global influence such as the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix and F1 eSports China championship, will either remain or be introduced to Jiading.

To make it a more livable and ecologically friendly area, the government vows to keep the ratio of days with an air quality index (AQI) rated good or excellent above 85 percent by 2025, while per capita greenery space will reach 11.5 square meters and forest coverage over 21 percent.

In terms of key projects investment, during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), about 250 billion yuan will be earmarked to expedite the development of Jiading new city. This year alone, 106 projects with a planned investment totalling 140 billion yuan have been arranged, out of which 40 billion yuan is set to be invested by the end of the year.

Shanghai unveiled its plan to develop five new cities in Jiading, Qingpu, Songjiang, Fengxian and Nanhui in late January as part of the local government’s effort to seek new engines for its future economic and social growth.

Under an earlier released blueprint, the five differently positioned new cities will be developed into modern, ecologically friendly, convenient and vibrant places where urban life and industrial development are well integrated. By 2025, they are supposed to attract a total of 3.6 million permanent residents and will further expand to around 1 million each by 2035.