Shanghai pitches $25b on urban Expo makeover

The Shanghai municipal government allotted 170 billion yuan ($25 billion) on urban facilities in 2009, an all-time high, as the city gears up preparation for the upcoming World Expo.

The building spectacular includes a grand subway hub and a face-lift on the historical bund, said Huang Rong, a top official on urban development and traffics. [Full Story]

China to invest 18b yuan on Expo construction

Gross investment in construction for the 2010 Shanghai World Expo will be managed within 18 billion yuan ($2.63 billion), while the estimated operation expenditure will cost up to 10.6 billion yuan ($1.55 billion), according to the municipal chief.

The municipality also pledged more effort to ensure lodging and traffic capacity for tourists, estimated at 400,000 people per day during the six-month World Expo starting on May 1. [Full Story]

Shanghai's new air terminal starts operation

Two airport terminals and two runways at Shanghai Hongqiao Airport will work together after the official opening of Terminal 2 on March 16, which increased the airport's capacity by 60 percent.

The airport organized the transfer on March 15, handling 65 flights involving 7,000 arriving passengers. After the flights landed on the new runway, they were parked in remote areas and passengers were taken to the old terminal by shuttle buses to get their luggage.

According to a statement by the Shanghai Airport Authority, during the upcoming Shanghai World Expo, Shanghai Hongqiao Airport would be able to handle 45 takeoffs and landings per hour. [Full Story]

 

 

 

New subway line for Expo starts operation

Shanghai's 11th subway line started trial operation Saturday, ahead of the opening ceremony of the futuristic Shanghai Expo on May 1.

The new line made the city China's first to have more than 420 kilometers of metro routes in service.

The Metro Line 10, 29.6 kilometers long, would be officially open after a three-month trial period, said an official of the municipal government.

Line 10 will see busy traffic during the six-month Shanghai Expo as it passes Fudan University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Tongji University and the downtown business districts.

Shanghai had its first metro line on April 10, 1995, which carried 180,000 passengers on its 16 kilometers route a day. Now the city has 11 metro lines with an average of 4.78 million tickets sold daily. [Full Story]

Taiwan Pavilion sold for $14.45 million

The Taiwan Pavilion at the on-going Shanghai World Expo was sold for 458.88 million New Taiwan dollars ($14.45 million), the pavilion's operator announced.

The operator, Taipei World Trade Center, said the price was 42 million New Taiwan Dollars higher than the minimum bidding price.

Hsinchu city, Miaoli county, and Haur Luen Enterprise Co Ltd in Taichung county of Taiwan made bids for the pavilion on Thursday, and Hsinchu city won. [Full Story]

Bits of Expo buildings to go under hammer

A cluster of European pavilions are negotiating with a Chinese media group to recycle parts of their structures and exhibitions to raise funds for charity in the final month of the Expo 2010 Shanghai.

China Business Network, the business arm of Shanghai Media Group, is looking for partners to supply materials for its "Expo Auction Hall" program, which will air on Oct 10. The point of the project is to comply with the Expo 2010 Shanghai motto of "Better City, Better Life" by making better use of the resources around us, which in this case refers to the hundreds of national pavilions in the Expo Garden. [Full Story]

 

Shanghai braces for tourist flood

Shanghai is probably the most popular domestic tourist destination during the seven-day National Day holiday as tourists flooded into the city to visit the Expo 2010 Shanghai in its last month.

The blooming tourism market in Shanghai has also helped stimulate the markets in neighboring places such as Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. [Full story]

Home Inns sees Expo boosting Shanghai room rates

Home Inns & Hotels Management Inc, China's second-biggest budget hotel operator, said this year's World Expo in Shanghai will boost room rates by as much as 20 percent, and it's adding up to 200 hotels nationwide.

"We're positive about demand during the Expo," David Sun, 46, chief executive officer of Home Inns, said in an interview at the company's headquarters. "We may see full occupancy at our hotels in Shanghai" during the fair. [Full story]

Hotel bookings rocket as Expo nears

Hotel bookings in Shanghai have increased dramatically as the 2010 World Expo comes nearer, Shanghai Business Daily reported.

Room reservations have soared 3.5 times since this January in the financial hub while the hotel room rates have risen only 20 percent, which is good news for visitors, the report said. [Full story]

Christopher Hassall, Procter & Gamble Co external relations officer

P&G connecting with Chinese consumers

American consumer product giant Procter & Gamble Co (P&G) is hoping to get into the psyche of Chinese people as the sponsor of the United States pavilion looks to next year's Shanghai Expo to increase its consumer base in China.

"The expo is a great way to connect our brands with another stepping stone in the development of China and China's real emergence on the world stage starting with the Beijing Olympics last year," said the Fortune 500 company's external relations officer Christopher Hassall.

Hassall said the event further provides his company, one that has been in China for some 20 years, a timely opportunity to gain added knowledge on how business today is done in Shanghai and China.

"We are working with the expo officials to better understand the proper ways of carrying individual brands at the expo, and potentially, for events that are linked to the expo. There are a lot of ways to connect our brands with consumers by how we market our brands in-store," he said. [Full Story]

GM China President introduces new tech for Expo

GM President and General Manager for China Kevin Wale on Thursday shared his opinions of the future of information highway and its connectivity with automobiles on his blog and sought online users' advices on the subject.

GM will demonstrate electrification, connectivity, as well as autonomous driving, and how these technologies can be combined to enhance the environment, driving safety and the way people manage future traffic flows, Wale said on his blog at GM's official Expo 2010 website. [Full Story]

More publications during 2010 Expo

German newspapers like Bild and racy Italian magazines may be available in Shanghai this summer as Expo organizers consider lifting the curbs on foreign publications during the six-month-long cultural gala.

Scores of the 192 countries that will join the Expo have already given their tacit backing to the lifting of the ban as they aim to promote their respective pavilions or culture through their national media, which they would like to see on sale in the host city. [Full Story]

Shanghai to provide financial services for Expo

China's Shanghai municipality will provide high-quality financial services for the upcoming World Expo, a Chinese municipal official said.

Fang Xinghai, director of the Financial Service Office of Shanghai, said all prepartions were in place to support the financial needs of visitors and participants. [Full Story]

GM unveils Chevy EV at the Expo

General Motor revealed its electric car, the Chevrolet Volt, in Shanghai on Aug 31. It will serve the World Expo as VIP transportation.

The Volt, set to launch on the mainland in 2011, is powered by built-in lithium-ion batteries consuming no fuel and emiting no waste, in 60 kilometers drive range. [Full story]

Solar-powered robot cars on Silk Road to oriental Expo

Two driverless electric vehicles have begun an epic 13,000-km journey from Italy to Expo 2010 Shanghai along the Silk Road.

The vehicles, developed by the Artificial Vision and Intelligent Systems Laboratory (VisLab) at Parma University in Italy, started their journey on July 26 and are expected to arrive in Shanghai around Oct 28, just days before the end of the Expo. [Full story]