Ground Broken for Shanghai Int'l Automobile City

Shanghai Starts China's Detroit

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Construction of an international automobile city started in the Anting area in this eastern China municipality Friday.

Six key projects of the automobile city include construction of an overpass, a central park and a second-hand vehicle trade market.

Involving a total investment of 50 billion yuan (over 6 billion U.S. dollars), the 68-square-kilometer automobile city will consist of six districts including a trade area, manufacturing areas of entire vehicles and automobile accessories, a research base and an international car-racing park.

The elementary framework of the automobile city will take shape in five to ten years' time, and most of the projects will invite public bidding from overseas investors.

Upon completion of the project, the automobile city will act as a high-ranking international base for the automobile industry, offers all-round services in product development, production, trade, exhibition and material exchange with an estimated annual trade value of 300 billion yuan (about 36 billion U.S. dollars), a senior official with the municipal government said.

For years, the automobile industry has been the largest pillar sector in Shanghai.