The municipality of Chongqing in Southwest China will invest 3 billion yuan ($463.91 million) to upgrade 16 km of land in the core area of the Liangjiang New area, at the intersection of the Yangtze River and the Jialing River.
To implement the planning upgrading, the zone plans to implement 188 projects, divided into the commercial, quasi-commercial, public welfare and quasi-public welfare categories. The public welfare and quasi-public welfare projects will receive municipal government funding.
To guarantee the financial backing of all the ventures, Chongqing is advising that the projects move to attract investment from the capital market, find fiscal support in various other ways or alternatively apply for municipal and district-level government funds.
Chongqing's municipal government will offer a 50 percent financial subsidy for traffic and public space projects in Liangjiang. Local government departments will also be accommodating in innovating their investment and financing approaches, to help ensure the construction of the projects.
Since Liangjiang's urban upgrading started in May last year, Chongqing has invested 2.8 billion yuan of government funds.
To date, 64 upgrade projects with a total investment of 6.36 billion yuan have been implemented, 19 of which have been completed.
John Edwards, the UK trade commissioner for China, praised Chongqing over its rise as a burgeoning center in intelligent manufacturing.