LINGANG Fengxian Area, an extension of the Shanghai Lingang Industrial Park, is emerging as a strategic national center for high-end manufacturing of heavy equipment for construction, new energy generation, aviation, ports, logistics and other fields.

Business and financial services are also locating in the park.

The 218-square-kilometer Lingang Industrial Park spans Pudong New Area and Fengxian District. The park is positioned to be part of a shipping hub for Northeast Asia and center for technological innovation in the Asia Pacific region.

The 17-square-kilometer Lingang Fengxian area is part of this world-class national project. It extends west from Lingang Industrial Park along the northern coastline of Hangzhou Bay, connecting the Yangshan Deep Water Port and the Lingang New City. It is part of the Shanghai-Zhejiang economic circle.

"The Fengxian part provides a new space for Shanghai Lingang Industrial Park to further upgrade the equipment industry and supply chain with its many utilities resources, high-end logistics supply chain service cluster, as well as excellent distribution of commercial facilities," says Jeff Yang, director of Investment Promotion and the Customer Service Center for Shanghai Lingang Fengxian Economic Development Co Ltd.

The Lingang project was started around eight years ago. With billions of dollars in investment, the park is booming as the city's biggest development area.

As a source of land, Fengxian naturally draws land for expanding manufacturing industries in the mega-size Lingang project.

It will be the home to many international manufacturers and logistics companies. Heavy equipment for construction, shipbuilding, aviation, energy and other industries will be manufactured there.

To take advantage of the opportunity, in 2008 the Fengxian local government allocated part of its Situan Town (neighboring the Pudong New Area) to the Lingang project.

"It's also a giant move for the district's industrial upgrading," Yang says. For years, Fengxian has been looking for heavy industry, represented by the project.

As an extension of Shanghai Lingang Industrial Park, the Fengxian Area targets manufacturing of large electric-generation equipment, key marine parts, motor vehicle assembly lines and parts, logistics equipment, rail transport, aviation, automation control and others.

Convenient Transport

Manufacturing includes machines for excavating, mining, road building, tunnel construction and petroleum extraction.

Fengxian supports the large civil aircraft assembly line in Pudong New Area and the aviation engine assembly line in the nearby Lingang. It aims to build a manufacturing center for civil aviation parts, with focus on aviation production line equipment, engines, avionics, fuselage structures and maintenance.

Given its coastal location, the area will develop manufacturing for offshore oil drilling platforms, marine outfitting, wind power generation equipment and deepwater heavy equipment terminals.

Planners give priority to establishing an international trade and logistics hub as well as an import/export distribution center. The area integrates highways, rail, aviation and ocean shipping.

The Lingang Fengxian Area is traversed by G1501 (the Shanghai Suburb Ring Expressway), an important link with Zhejiang Province and south Shanghai. The route connects the Yangshan Deep Water Port and Pudong International Airport to the north. The S2 highway links Shanghai Lingang Industrial Park and the city centers.

The Two-Ports Avenue starts from Pudong International Airport in the east, crossing the center of Lingang Fengxian Area, and connecting to G1501 in the west. This forms a major east-west trunk road through the area.

Local roads include the New Siping Highway, Xinyang Highway, D2 and D3, which carry raw materials, super-large and super-heavy finished products for equipment manufacturers within Lingang Fengxian Area.

The planned Pudong rail network will run through the north of the area; there will be a station in the area, linking the national railway networks that go to Shanghai. It also will connect the Luchao Port railway station in the east, and extend north to Pudong International Airport Station and Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone Station.

Big projects

Since 2009, when Fengxian Area construction began, many big projects and enterprises settled in the area. They include SANY Group (a manufacturer of excavators, chain cranes, precision machine tools and new energy equipment); XCMG (a national leader in heavy construction); Tianhe Oil Machinery Group; Lubair (a supply chain solutions provider for China's aviation materials industry); Shanghai Longyang Machinery Factory and Gangtai Logistics.

Projects by SANY Group and Gangtai Logistics are expected to be completed in early 2012, generating annual output value of 4 billion yuan (US$629 million).

When all the currently planned projects are completed, the total output value of the Lingang Fengxian Area could exceed 30 billion yuan annually and provide 30,000 jobs.

SANY Group plans to invest 10 billion yuan in Lingang Fengxian Area to build up its 2.3-square-kilometer East China Center. It will be the most important center for SANY Group to compete with the international construction and engineering machine giants such as Caterpillar and Komatsu.

Construction on the 1-square-kilometer first phase is underway. It will be a manufacturing center for excavating equipment with a capacity of 40,000 units a year.

With an investment of 10 billion yuan, XCMG is constructing a 1.5-sqaure-kilometer manufacturing center for large bulldozers and excavators. It will also build port and marine heavy equipment and parts. It is estimated to complete work in the next two years. When fully operational, the XCMG project will generate around 30 billion yuan a year in sales.

By 2015, XCMG and SANY Group will produce almost 60,000 excavators, 3,000 precision machine tools, 2,000 bulldozers and large cranes components as well as concrete mixers.

About half of the equipment will be exported from the Shanghai Port.

Many logistics companies such as DHL have settled in the Fengxian Park.

Public services

To encourage heavy manufacturing enterprises to settle in the park, Lingang Fengxian Area offers financial and other services.

A financial services center will host commercial banks, providing comprehensive services including point-to-point settlement in lending and financing, foreign exchange settlement, intermediary business, corporate e-banking and investment.

It also provides consulting services and solutions for various business needs, such as collection of export proceeds, export tax refunds, customs declarations, trans-shipments, risk management, logistics project management and warehousing. It cooperates with customs, commodity inspection, foreign exchange administration and other authorities to help enterprises reduce costs and improve efficiency of their logistics operations.

Business services centers will explain, assist in and facilitate project approval procedures in Lingang Fengxian Area. Fast and comprehensive service is the aim.

Government offices have been up in the area, including customs, commodity inspections, border control, industrial and commercial administration, taxation and environmental protection. The aim is to provide one-stop administrative services including policy guidance, administrative approval and follow-up services.

Business services include professional, comprehensive HR solutions and training services.

HR service companies and on-site training bases will be set up in the collaboration with Shanghai Labor and Social Security Bureau.

Easy living

Located in the western part of Lingang Fengxian Area, Nanqiao Town is the political, economic, cultural and information center of Fengxian District.

Nanqiao, which covers 112 square kilometers, has a permanent population of 260,000. It offers convenient transport, complete residential facilities and educational resources.

Nanqiao New City is planned as a low-carbon eco-city, with a 4.7-square-kilometer central, ecological green space and a 2-square-kilometer Shanghai Fish property project. It will include a residential area, resorts, picnic area, green belts, yacht museum, waterfront business street, five-star spa hotel and other facilities. It will be built into a comprehensive service-oriented on the north coast of Hangzhou Bay.

Adjacent to Lingang Fengxian Area is Situan New Town, covering 76 square kilometers. It has a population of 65,000. It is expected to become a multi-functional area integrating low-carbon living, business services and modern urban industry.