Songjiang New City excels in carrying out national strategies

Construction of Songjiang New City is moving ahead at a fast pace as the district, with a tradition of honoring science and technological innovation, is also creating a comprehensive transport hub.

The beginning of 2021 saw its developmental blueprint in full swing: eight essential infrastructure projects began construction, and 50 key industrial projects were signed, with a total investment surpassing 40 billion yuan (US$6.2 billion).

Comprehensive traffic hub in the making

Transport construction is paving the way for the new city's development.

Since the first pile was driven in November 2020, construction of the Shanghai-Suzhou-Huzhou Railway has been carried out in all aspects. The section of the new railway inside Songjiang is estimated to extend for 30.44 kilometers. Upon its completion in 2024, the suburban district will become an important traffic hub in the Yangtze River Delta.

Not only will the Shanghai-Kunming Highspeed Railway, the Shanghai-Suzhou-Huzhou Railway, the Shanghai-Kunming Railway and the Shanghai-Hangzhou Intercity Railway converge at the Songjiang traffic hub, the Jiading-Qingpu-Songjiang-Jinshan Suburban Ring Railway, Metro Line 9, Metro Line 23 and tramcar T3 will also meet.

"The future Songjiang South Railway Station will have nine platforms and 23 rail lines and become another comprehensive traffic hub following Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station," said Yang Jin, chief of the Songjiang Traffic Commission.

It is estimated that the annual passenger flow of Songjiang traffic hub will reach 20-25 million. Within a radius of 1 kilometer, specific public infrastructures including TV and film release centers, industrial service platforms and spaces for financial conferences and exhibitions will be set up.

"In future, residents of Songjiang New City can commute within 30 minutes in the area, arrive in downtown Shanghai, other new cities and neighboring cities in around 45 minutes, and reach key international traffic hubs like the Hongqiao and Pudong airports in around 60 minutes," said Gan Fuqiang, chief of Songjiang Planning and Natural Resources Bureau.

Advanced science and industry

The development of a new city also requires solid industrial support. Since its embryo stage, Songjiang New City aims to represent world advanced scientific innovation and industrial development capacity.

Its G60 High-tech Corridor vision, an urban-rural development axis to connect Songjiang with eight cities in the Yangtze River Delta, has developed from a regional plan to a national strategy.

In early 2016, Songjiang launched the 1.0 version G60 High-Tech Corridor development within the district by focusing on innovation, industrial reconstruction, investing in advanced manufacturing industry and exerting regional leadership.

In 2017, the district launched a 2.0 version of corridor development by cooperating with governments from Hangzhou and Jiaxing. The 3.0 version of corridor development will see the region expand horizontally along the Shanghai-Suzhou-Huzhou-Hefei Intercity Railway to include Suzhou, Huzhou, Jinhua, Xuancheng, Wuhu and Hefei cities.

The inter-city development blueprint has seen a clustering of sci-tech companies in fields such as integrated circuits, biomedicine, artificial intelligence, high-end equipment, new energy vehicles and new materials.

The total GDP of the nine Corridor cities has risen to about 1/15 of the national GDP of China so far.

In May, Songjiang was selected and praised as one of the ten places in the country that excelled in carrying out key national strategies in 2020 by the State Council.

"Through relying on innovation as our key momentum, we can have enormous creativity, future possibilities, science and technology achievements and a promising future," said Cheng Xiangmin, Party secretary of Songjiang District.

It is estimated that by 2035 the number of permanent residents of Songjiang New City will be 1.1 million.