Smart city to rise from polluted industrial base in Baoshan
Conversion of Nanda in north Shanghai has begun.
Construction of a high-tech industrial park began on Sunday. The project above Nanda Road Station of future Metro Line 15 will open to the public in 2022.
Nanda in Baoshan District, notorious for soil and air pollution, is to become an environmentally friendly high-tech park and community. Nanda Smart City will have over 5 million square meters of new buildings.
Work began on Sunday on the twin towers at the entrance of the proposed home to companies in intelligent manufacturing, 3D printing, smart vehicles and the Internet of Things.
Financial service providers will be based in the buildings with annexes devoted to shopping.
Nanda was once the city's leather production and chemical engineering center with over 200 companies and factories, but pollution and safety concerns meant the site was known as one of the city's most polluted.
Action against the problems began in 2009 and over 50 companies were shut down. Most of the land has since been recovered.
Artist's impression of the new Nanda.
Lingang Group will convert the area into an intelligent park and community with SOM, an American architectural, urban planning and engineering firm, involved in much of the planning.
Over 100,000 people are expected to make their homes in the area with 40 parks planned covering over 40 percent of the area.
An expected 50 high-tech companies plan to move into the site, investing 50 billion yuan, according to Baoshan government.
Elsewhere, four former industrial bases — Wujing in Minhang, Gaoqiao in Pudong, Taopu in Putuo and Wusong in Baoshan — have begun transformation projects.
Taopu Smart City will feature Shanghai’s largest downtown greenbelts. Taopu was among the first chemical industrial parks in Shanghai.
Wusong, the cradle of China’s modern industry, will become Wusong Smart City, with innovation parks, commercial facilities, residential communities and waterfront attractions.
Wusong was home to Baosteel Group and over 300 other metal works and chemical plants in the 1930s.
Nanda, once a heavily polluted industrial site in north Shanghai, could become a high-tech park.
