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Four-Year-Old CBD Launches Finance High-Speed Line

Now celebrating its fourth year of existence, Beijing's CBD (Central Business District), has demonstrated the viability of its becoming an important international financial district and a hub of the country's modern service industry.

Already, the Bank of Montreal, Banco do Brasil, Commerzbank AG, AXA Group, Royal Bank of Scotland, The Dai-Ichi Mutual Life Insurance Company, Banca Intesa - all internationally well-known financial institutions - have found a home in the CBD, which is located in Beijing's Chaoyang District.

The four-square-kilometre (sq.m) CBD is bounded by West Dawang Road in the west, East Daqiao Road in the east, Chaoyang Road on the north and the Tonghui River on the south. East Chang'an Dajie passes through the centre of the district. The district has a total built-up area of 10 million sq.m, composed of office buildings, apartments, and business services facilities, which account for 50 percent, 25 percent, and 25 percent of the built-up area. The district has been designed to become one of the two most important financial districts and service-industry hubs in Beijing.

In the 82^nd Mayor Office Decision of 2000, the city resolved to accelerate the construction of Beijing Central Business District. In the four years since then, the district has accomplished much in its construction of both hardware and software capabilities. Scores of internationally renowned financial institutions and modern service industrial enterprises regard the CBD highly.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the four major international accounting firms, has decided to move to the CBD, along with the Marketing Resource Group, one of the top 10 public relations and consulting firms in China, to be near their customers.

The optimism that went into creating the Beijing CBD has been rewarded with results.

Business Pooling Effect Will Bring Rapid Progress

As the term suggests, the central business district is focused on meeting the needs of Beijing's business community. The term was first adopted in the United States in the 1920s. New York's Manhattan, Tokyo's Shinjuku, and Hong Kong Central are all well-developed CBDs.

As of June the Beijing CBD had gathered more than 3,000 diverse enterprises with excellent prospects into its fold. They are mostly companies from the worlds of finance, insurance, consulting, and the IT industry, which are becoming dominant. A survey of ten major office buildings in or near the CBD revealed that finance and insurance, consulting, cultural media, and IT and communications enterprises account for more than 50 percent of all the enterprises.

In addition to more than 150 foreign investment banks, insurance and securities companies and offices, there are also over 800 foreign-funded enterprises, nearly 500 multinational corporate offices, 570 representative offices and nearly 200 domestic and foreign agencies representing legal, accounting, and investment consulting firms located within the Beijing CBD. Of the more than 170 "Top 500" enterprises that have chosen to locate in Beijing, over 130 have settled in the CBD. More than 50 of these companies are concentrated in the China World Trade Center.

Moreover, this concentrated activity is intensifying. Three hundred more service-industry companies chose to settle in the CBD in 2004, an increase of 22.9 percent.

CBD leaders believe the district will become a dominant hub for the modern service industry and a major centre of international finance after all its management, distribution, service, and communications capabilities are put in place. It will appeal strongly to multinationals seeking new headquarters and regional head offices. 

By 2020, the Beijing Central Business District will become one of the control centres of Asian-Pacific economic activities, a distribution centre of global economic resources and various production factors, a development base for a modern service industry, and an exchange base for international business and culture.

Key Construction Projects - A "Race" with Time

On July 12, 2004, work began on the new Beijing Television Centre. It is expected to become the new home of China Central Television (CCTV) which is moving into CBD. It is expected to "top-off" by the end of the year.

Construction activity within the CBD has been described as "a race against time." Key projects such as Fortune Center, Central Park, Jianwai SOHO were the projects for find their way from blueprints to construction. No less than seven projects, including the Guanghua World Trade Centre, SOHO Shang Du, and the third-phase of the China World Trade Center, are quietly stepping up preparatory work for their projects.

Fourteen of these projects are large, high-grade, high-class projects involving investments totalling more than 47 billion yuan (US$5.96 billion). Seven of these projects involve foreign investors and 18.4 billion yuan (US$2.23 billion), accounting for 39 percent of the value of the projects. The investment in high-quality apartments and intelligent office buildings at the "Town in the City" project exceeds 2 billion yuan (US$242 million).

"The Golden Cross District" at the core of CBD is already in its preliminary stage. On June 19, International Business Harbor East of the Wanda Plaza held its topping-off ceremony, and the International Business Harbor complex entered the stage of semi-completed apartments for sale. Just days ago, its neighbour, the Goldfield International Garden, topped off after 1.5-years construction, nearly a month ahead of schedule.

With the completion of these projects, part of the CBD from the Third East Ring Road to Dawang Road and north of Jianguo Road that abounds in construction projects will be ready for its début. In June, the Beijing Silktie Center, the highest building in Beijing, located at the core of CBD, began construction of its main town in early June.

About 400,000 sq.m of construction within the CBD has been completed out of about 3 million sq.m planned involving 11 projects in the current phase of the CBD project. More than 7 million sq.m of construction is expected to be completed by 2008 when Beijing will host the 2008 Olympic Games.

Construction of Modern Three-Dimensional Transportation System

For a developed central business district, tens of years of development and construction are often required, and a first-rate infrastructure is of vital importance. In the past two years, road construction in Beijing CBD has expanded steadily.

According to regulations contained in "Chaoyang District Road Transportation Planning of 2004," seven roads including West Dawang Road (first phase), Chaoyang Road, Northern Tonghui River Road, Guangqu Road, and roads inside the CBD, including Northern Kerry Road, No. 4 Business Centre Road, Southern Guandong Store Street have been worked into Chaoyang District's road planning.

Reconstruction of Guanghua Road and the Northern Tonghui River Road have begun, the widening of Southern Guandong Store Street has been completed, and Chaoyang Road is under reconstruction. Northern Chaoyang Road is to be widened within the year. Demolition and removal work on Northern Chaoyang Road has already begun, and by the end of this year, the section of Northern Chaoyang Road inside the East Third Ring Road is expected to be completed. These roads are major transportation lines within CBD, which are of paramount importance in relieving transportation pressures inside and outside the district.

To ease the flow of people and goods within the CBD, a "three-dimensional" transportation plan has been put into place. It involves districtwide transportation planning that doesn't simply focus on the CBD. In the second half of 2004, a pan-CBD road transportation planning demonstration, pan-CBD bus line adjustments, point reconstruction of peripheral roads of the CBD, and other planning and demonstration work, and the initial design of the first-phase of the CBD underground space will be finished.

By the end of 2007, the CBD will complete 30 km of road construction, including one urban expressway, two mainline roads, six second mainline roads, and nearly 80 urban spur tracks (sections). By then, 95.1 percent of planned road construction will have been completed and the Line 10 subway will be completed. Thus, a modern three-dimensional transportation system with a reasonable road layout, smooth linking points between lines, and scientific transportation management will be in place.   

Service-Oriented Government to Promote Development Environment

American International Assurance Company, JPMorgan Chase, and Olympus Investment Corporation, which have moved into the CBD, will receive house-renting subsidies this year. According to regulations concerning the lowering of business costs of financial institutions stipulated in "Some Measures of Chaoyang District to Promote Finance Industry in Beijing CBD," issued by Chaoyang District in 2003, these enterprises are the first to qualify for the subsidy that is meant to reduce business costs. The measures also offer some preferential terms in three aspects, including: the construction of a safe financial district, enhancement of services for and communications among financial institutions, and the creation of a good exterior environment for financial institutions. Financial institutions such as the World Bank and foreign central banks, which are strongly representative and have powerful pooling effect, will enjoy preferential tax exemption policies.

In order to reinforce the appeal of CBD international financial centre, the CBD has adopted various measures to improve its development environment in recent years. Within the first half of 2004, the measures began to have a positive effect.

District government officials have made special visits to various financial departments seeking ways to improve the district's operating environment and improve governmental services within the district. The also sought advice about whether more enterprises' intend to make more investments in the district and inquired into the difficulties those enterprises might face. This year, the CBD Administrative Committee, in an attempt to strengthen its ties with departments in charge of finance and with foreign financial institutions and multinational corporations situated in the district, visited the leaders of the Department of Operation Management of People's Bank of China, the Beijing Finance Work Committee, and the Beijing Bank Regulatory Bureau. They also visited Ericsson, American International Assurance, Banque Nationale de Paris, Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, and other financial institutions and multinational corporations, and organized a "Foreign Financial Institutions Breakfast Meeting" and CBD District Bank Association Conference. Both efforts helped enhance communication between the government and the financial institutions.

Petrobras, a "Top 500" enterprise, got "commissioned services" (governmental assistance with business registration and location selection) promised by the government under its agreement with the Beijing CBD after moving into the district. This year, the CBD Administrative Committee issued "Suggestions about the Trial Commissioned Service of Industrial and Commercial Registration for Major Enterprises in CBD," which introduced commissioned services through all procedures for major projects in CBD. After researching related commission procedures from the Municipal Investment Promotion Bureau and Zhongguancun Village, and other relevant departments, the administrative committee made a preliminary decision to provide commissioned services through all procedures for major enterprises in key industries in their location, selection and registration.

For four years, the CBD Administrative Committee has issued a series of measures to ensure the sustainable development of the district. Concerned with the concentration of tall buildings in the district, it initiated an air evaluation to scientifically measure and gauge the effects of wind upon buildings using the "wind-tunnel" experimental method. It was a first for Beijing to develop virtual-reality simulation systems that are expected to improve its understanding of planned projects. The assessment of the value of land in CBD, carried out by an administrative committee, simplifies the initial procedures for individual projects and saves development costs. The established CBD business performance index can forecast economic development trends in a scientific way. Its successful cooperation with Beijing International Trust and Investment Co. Ltd. in introducing the "CBD Capital Entrust Plan" raised 596 million yuan (US$72 million) for infrastructure construction.

If you walk on the streets of Beijing now, you will find that most of the eye-catching real estate advertisements, more often than not, refer to the CBD. Within four brief years, the Beijing CBD has transformed itself from a concept into a reality that was sought. We have high expectations that the fifth year of growth of the CBD will propel of Beijing's economy and help the city realize its dream of internationalization based on the combined effects of its finance industry.