Han Ximin

SHENZHEN has speeded up its drive to become a regional finance center after construction began on financial buildings and financial service parks yesterday.

Construction began on the operations center of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in Futian District, the new office of the Shenzhen Branch of the People’s Bank of China in Luohu District and two financial services parks in Nanshan and Longgang districts.

“With the construction of the financial buildings and parks, Shenzhen will introduce more foreign financial institutions and build the city into a regional finance center in China,” Mayor Xu Zongheng said at the ground-breaking ceremony for the operations center of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange yesterday.

The financial industry has become one of the pillar industries of Shenzhen and the city government has designated land plots totaling 150,000 square meters for this sector, according to Xu.

The 2.5-billion-yuan (US$329 million) operations center, covering a construction area of 265,000 square meters, includes a 248.8-meter tower, a parking lot for 2,100 cars and some high-rises. The center will be put into use in 2011.

A distinguishing feature of the building is a 36-meter-high podium at its base.

“The podium represents a rising stock market and displays its communication with the city and the ambition of the stock market,” said Kunle Adeyemi, designer with the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, a Holland-based company which is designing the building. The company is also the designer of the new CCTV building in Beijing.

In the Caiwuwei area, Luohu District, construction on the 23-story office of the Shenzhen Branch of the People’s Bank of China began yesterday. To make way for the building and other financial buildings, the government leveled old houses within a 150,000-square-meter area. Foreign securities, insurance companies and banks are expected to open offices in the area.

To better serve foreign financial institutions, the government will open a financial service park in the Science and Technology Park in Nanshan District and a financial service park in Pinghu, Longgang District, covering a total construction area of 3.8 million square meters.