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District nets another large fish
August 12, 2009, Wednesday
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ALIBABA.COM is the latest high-tech company to choose to set up a base in Hangzhou's Binjiang District, an area where the economy is booming, writes Xu Wenwen. Last Friday, staff at Alibaba.com began moving into their new base in Hangzhou.
Taking about nine days, 6,500 people will move to the new building at the junction of Binxing Road and Zhonghe Freeway in Binjiang District.
Construction began about two years ago, and the 136,000-square-meter area includes 90,000 square meters for offices and 46,000 square meters for a seven-story car park. The offices have working space for 10,000 people.
The building looks like a huge net, symbolizing "collecting all trades in the world by Internet."
In 2004, UT Starcom arrived at Binjiang, followed by NEC, Motorola, Nokia, Siemens and Sumsung.
After Alibaba, it will be Netease's turn. A new setup of high and new-technology industries is gradually forming in Binjiang District in the new hi-tech development zone.
Several months ago, the Binjiang economy began to show signs of growth, led by its house prices.
House leasing boomed significantly. In one house-leasing company, the best performance of a single salesman before June was 20 houses leased, but in June it was 40. Prices, both for leasing and purchasing, are increasing.
"In April, to rent a three-room apartment cost 1,200 yuan (US$175) to 1,300 yuan, but in June, it's more than 3,000 yuan," says Wang Xiaoping, who works at Alibaba.
Many other service firms are moving into Binjiang, following Alibaba.
As reported in a local newspaper, Jie Ke Cars Leasing Co, which is near Alibaba's old building, is looking for a place to set up an agency near Alibaba's new premises.
Zheng Nan, the company's vice general manager, says: "About 80 percent of our company's sales come from Alibaba, so Alibaba went there, we must follow."
The economic effect is certainly welcomed by the Binjiang District government. "We offer certain policies to enterprises in Binjiang, big and small," says Shi Honglei, director of Hangzhou Binjiang District Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Bureau.
To facilitate the Alibaba migration, Binjiang District government founded a relocation group to solve problems like public transport issues and even school enrollment.
"My son will go to Wentao Primary School in Binjiang after this vacation," says Alibaba employee Wang whose husband works at the same company. "It's his first year and we've thought about schools downtown, but considering the distance, we stayed here. Now the whole family is in Binjiang."
To help people adapt to the new environment, the Binjiang District government issued a "Handbook of Life" - a manual tailor-made for employees of Alibaba, which included details of accommodation, transport, education and shopping in the district.
"We are not quite familiar with Binjiang because it's newly built. But the 'Handbook of Life' guided us. For instance, it introduces us to good restaurants and entertainment places," Wang says.
Wang Yongmei, chief coordinator of Alibaba's Binjiang project committee, says the group, founded by Ma Yun with 18 people in 1999, has developed at an amazing speed to become China's largest comprehensive e-commerce service platform system.
Alibaba.com is a publicly traded company in the business-to-business e-commerce marketplace.
By the end of June, the number of employees had reached 9,290, and the total number of the whole Alibaba Group is over 15,000.
The old building could only cater for a maximum of 6,000 people.
"It was cheaper to build a new office building than stay in the old one," Wang says.
According to a report by Alibaba's financial department, the cost of using the new building in the first year was equal to renting office buildings, and in future years, the cost will be lower.
"The rental this year for 19 floors in four buildings was 33 million yuan, and to build the Alibaba (China) base cost US$100 million," Wang reveals.
"As the first enterprise in this zone, we applied for resources from the government, like more buses to ease the transport situation, so hopefully firms which come later can enjoy the benefits," adds Wang.
Actually, the base is just the first step: another core company of Alibaba - Taobao.com, an online retail marketplace - will start to build its own Taobao City in Yuhang at the end of the year; and Alisoft, the Internet-based business management solutions company, is going to break ground for a base in Binjiang.
Alipay, the third-party online payment platform, is another company discussing a move to the area.
To develop a company in a new and unfamiliar environment is a challenge, but is also an opportunity.
Ma, who went from a single Web page to form one of China's biggest online B2B platforms over 10 years, started his new journey in Binjiang when he and his staff walked across the Qiantang River.
Service Month On The Way
The inauguration of a "service month" for foreign-funded enterprises and consultation meeting on related national policies is to be held in Hangzhou, where government departments will offer details of their latest policies and send government employees for on-site consultations. Any question that remained unanswered will be replied to within 10 days.
Date: August 14, 9am-12am
Venue: Shimao Hall, Zhengjiang Narada Hotel, 122 Shuguang Rd
Tel: (0571) 8517-5368/1360-6616-455
Fax: (0571) 8517-4110
Taking about nine days, 6,500 people will move to the new building at the junction of Binxing Road and Zhonghe Freeway in Binjiang District.
Construction began about two years ago, and the 136,000-square-meter area includes 90,000 square meters for offices and 46,000 square meters for a seven-story car park. The offices have working space for 10,000 people.
The building looks like a huge net, symbolizing "collecting all trades in the world by Internet."
In 2004, UT Starcom arrived at Binjiang, followed by NEC, Motorola, Nokia, Siemens and Sumsung.
After Alibaba, it will be Netease's turn. A new setup of high and new-technology industries is gradually forming in Binjiang District in the new hi-tech development zone.
Several months ago, the Binjiang economy began to show signs of growth, led by its house prices.
House leasing boomed significantly. In one house-leasing company, the best performance of a single salesman before June was 20 houses leased, but in June it was 40. Prices, both for leasing and purchasing, are increasing.
"In April, to rent a three-room apartment cost 1,200 yuan (US$175) to 1,300 yuan, but in June, it's more than 3,000 yuan," says Wang Xiaoping, who works at Alibaba.
Many other service firms are moving into Binjiang, following Alibaba.
As reported in a local newspaper, Jie Ke Cars Leasing Co, which is near Alibaba's old building, is looking for a place to set up an agency near Alibaba's new premises.
Zheng Nan, the company's vice general manager, says: "About 80 percent of our company's sales come from Alibaba, so Alibaba went there, we must follow."
The economic effect is certainly welcomed by the Binjiang District government. "We offer certain policies to enterprises in Binjiang, big and small," says Shi Honglei, director of Hangzhou Binjiang District Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Bureau.
To facilitate the Alibaba migration, Binjiang District government founded a relocation group to solve problems like public transport issues and even school enrollment.
"My son will go to Wentao Primary School in Binjiang after this vacation," says Alibaba employee Wang whose husband works at the same company. "It's his first year and we've thought about schools downtown, but considering the distance, we stayed here. Now the whole family is in Binjiang."
To help people adapt to the new environment, the Binjiang District government issued a "Handbook of Life" - a manual tailor-made for employees of Alibaba, which included details of accommodation, transport, education and shopping in the district.
"We are not quite familiar with Binjiang because it's newly built. But the 'Handbook of Life' guided us. For instance, it introduces us to good restaurants and entertainment places," Wang says.
Wang Yongmei, chief coordinator of Alibaba's Binjiang project committee, says the group, founded by Ma Yun with 18 people in 1999, has developed at an amazing speed to become China's largest comprehensive e-commerce service platform system.
Alibaba.com is a publicly traded company in the business-to-business e-commerce marketplace.
By the end of June, the number of employees had reached 9,290, and the total number of the whole Alibaba Group is over 15,000.
The old building could only cater for a maximum of 6,000 people.
"It was cheaper to build a new office building than stay in the old one," Wang says.
According to a report by Alibaba's financial department, the cost of using the new building in the first year was equal to renting office buildings, and in future years, the cost will be lower.
"The rental this year for 19 floors in four buildings was 33 million yuan, and to build the Alibaba (China) base cost US$100 million," Wang reveals.
"As the first enterprise in this zone, we applied for resources from the government, like more buses to ease the transport situation, so hopefully firms which come later can enjoy the benefits," adds Wang.
Actually, the base is just the first step: another core company of Alibaba - Taobao.com, an online retail marketplace - will start to build its own Taobao City in Yuhang at the end of the year; and Alisoft, the Internet-based business management solutions company, is going to break ground for a base in Binjiang.
Alipay, the third-party online payment platform, is another company discussing a move to the area.
To develop a company in a new and unfamiliar environment is a challenge, but is also an opportunity.
Ma, who went from a single Web page to form one of China's biggest online B2B platforms over 10 years, started his new journey in Binjiang when he and his staff walked across the Qiantang River.
Service Month On The Way
The inauguration of a "service month" for foreign-funded enterprises and consultation meeting on related national policies is to be held in Hangzhou, where government departments will offer details of their latest policies and send government employees for on-site consultations. Any question that remained unanswered will be replied to within 10 days.
Date: August 14, 9am-12am
Venue: Shimao Hall, Zhengjiang Narada Hotel, 122 Shuguang Rd
Tel: (0571) 8517-5368/1360-6616-455
Fax: (0571) 8517-4110
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