Home decoration market to be upgraded

A shabby home decoration market no longer in use in Minhang District is to be replaced by a modern furniture and construction material trade center.

Jiuxing Market in Qibao Town has long drawn people looking for paint, wallpaper, laminate flooring and other home decoration materials, but its popularity has also attracted unauthorized vendors and illegal buildings to house them.

The district government closed the market in June due to a mass of illegal structures and safety concerns, and its future planning was publicized on Tuesday.

It will become an "international furniture and construction material trade center" with 1.74 million square meters of new construction, doubling the size of the former downmarket but popular venue, said Zhu Zhisong, the Party secretary of Minhang.

"The center will also incorporate a cultural and innovative industry to become a new landmark in west part of the city," Zhu said in an interview with a local radio station. An online market will also be opened.

All the new construction will be energy-saving and built with environmentally friendly materials. The new buildings will be kept at a distance from residential houses to resolve the many complaints about noise and safety concerns, Zhu said.

Since its opening in 1998, the market had lured out-of-towners in search of business opportunities, but their arrival has been a major contributor to its degradation, according to the government. Many illegal shops were erected by unlicensed traders, who lived inside them, posing a fire hazard risk.

The town government has razed the entire site, which comprises numerous legal and illegal structures, and will redevelop it as a contemporary commercial center, the Qibao government said.

More than 10,000 registered vendors have moved out. Some 15 percent of buildings inside the market, covering 180,000 square meters, have been demolished to make way for the redevelopment.