CONSTRUCTION is in full swing in Nanqiao New City's Business Headquarters Zone being set up to service the commercial and lifestyle needs of entrepreneurs, especially those from Zhejiang Province across the Hangzhou Bay. Tan Weiyun reports.

A business headquarters zone for small and medium-sized enterprises is emerging in Fengxian District in a strategic move for it to become a commercial hub for the Yangtze River Delta region.

As a key city planning project and one of the first of eight modern service zones approved by the Shanghai government, the Business Headquarters Zone will be developed into a modern, diversified and first-class facility for businesspeople, especially those from Zhejiang Province across Hangzhou Bay.

"It costs less in rent, logistics, labor and in many other factors," says Xu Jianjun, an official of the local government.

The zone is set to offer business services and become a comprehensive platform for investment by attracting foreign or Chinese enterprises to establish headquarters in the district.

"Compared with the city's other financial zones, such as Xujiahui Central Business District and the Lujiazui Financial Zone in Pudong New Area which have attracted many multinational companies, the zone in Fengxian will be a wiser choice for small and medium-sized enterprises," Xu says.

Located in the district's core area of Nanqiao New City, the zone's construction is in full swing.

The project, covering an area of 1.47 square kilometers, includes a Central Business District funded by Green Lands Group (a real estate developer), a 110,000-square-meter China SME Tower and a 230,000-square-meter plaza, funded by Shanghai Nanfang Group.

It will include office buildings, commercial flats, star-rated hotels, high-end department stores, a home-decor market, a vehicle-free shopping promenade and a leisure square.

The first-phase construction of Nanfang International Plaza was completed last year, and some projects such as Nanfang International Tower and Nanfang Brilliance Nanqiao Shopping Center (first phase) have started trading.

With an investment of 3.8 billion yuan (US$559 million), the plaza will be the largest commercial project in the city's suburban areas when completed.

The 49,000-square-meter shopping center (first phase) has become the first choice of shopping and recreation for Fengxian locals. The 80,000-square-meter second phase will be finished by the end of this year and will include more boutiques, fitness clubs, restaurants and a cinema.

Nanfang International Tower, a new landmark of Fengxian, has lured enterprises such as Agricultural Bank of China, China National Petroleum Corporation (China's largest oil and gas producer and supplier), Shanghai Heng Yuan Xiang Group (one of the country's top woollen consumables companies) and many others to relocate headquarters and Shanghai offices in Fengxian.

Other projects including a business center and a hotel have started construction, to supplement the services in the zone.

The exact completion date of the whole SME zone project is undecided.

The zone, according to the blueprint, is divided into four functional areas, including Business Center, Professional Business Service Area, Leisure and Life Zone.

The Business Center will be made up of human-intelligence system office buildings and business clubs and will be the base for privately owned enterprises to set up their administration buildings, research and development centers and sales departments.

The Professional Business Service Area currently under construction will host intermediary agencies that offer a series of financial services, ranging from consulting, trading, insurance to conference and exhibition designing, thus forming an integrated industrial chain.

The Leisure Area and Life Zone are two important parts of the development and will become the home for both the entrepreneurs and the employees.

Restaurants, shopping malls, gyms, recreation centers, parks and pubs, all at blueprint stage, will turn the busy, noisy business hub of the daytime into a quiet, carefree residential area with a leisurely pace at night.

"Fengxian is becoming a hot place with its convenient transport," says Xu. "It is always the first stop for businessmen from Zhejiang Province as well as other places in the country's southwest."

Situated in the middle of the "Golden Belt" (Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone-Pudong International Airport-Yangshan Deep-Water Port Logistics Park-Shanghai Chemical Engineering Center), Nanqiao New City in Fengxian enjoys its unique geographical advantage.

It is connected to the Shanghai city center by two expressways in the north, Yangshan Deep-Water Port in the east and prosperous private business areas in the south across Hangzhou Bay.

Hangzhou Bay Bridge, which opened last year, brings Fengxian even closer to the southern cities in Zhejiang, including Ningbo, Shaoxing, Zhoushan and Wenzhou.

In addition, the zone is surrounded by various industrial parks, export processing zones and chemical engineering bases, which have formed several industrial groups such as yacht manufacturing, power transmission and distribution, electronics, medical services, logistics and modern agriculture.

The zone will also welcome nearby researchers and students working in related fields from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai Institute of Technology, Shanghai Business School and many others. They will be the driving force of the district's Innovation Center.

However, Tao Jianxiong, director of the district's Committee of Development and Reform, points out that the "headquarters economy" is not a new concept and the competition to become the No. 1 headquarters zone in China is getting hotter.

"Many cities, such as Beijing, Guangzhou (Guangdong Province), Nanjing (Jiangsu Province), Dalian (Liaoning Province) and Chongqing, have given priority to developing headquarters zones in recent years," says Tao.

In the Yangtze River Delta region, about 80 percent of cities have offered favorable investment policies to attract companies to settle there.

"The challenge is there, but we're quite confident. Fengxian is unique," Tao says. "Each project will be evaluated and re-evaluated before it enters the zone to make sure all of them can succeed."

He adds that by the end of 2010, the annual taxation revenue of the headquarters zone is set to reach 1 billion yuan and it will also create 50,000 jobs for locals.