Nanjing plans new city center for Youth Olympics

Nanjing (CNS) -- The Nanjing city government has set itself a goal to build a multifaceted city center in just 1,000-days, to serve sporting, financial, scientific, and residential functions. The Hexi New Town construction project was announced at a conference on Monday.

Budgeted at nearly 100 billion yuan (US$ 15.84 million), the project includes a main site and all auxiliary units for the 2014 Youth Olympic Games; a central business district which will headquarter influential banks, insurance companies, and security firms; a science and technology park that will feature advanced cloud computing development; and a residential area to meet high ecological standards.

Scheduled to be completed by August 2014, the Youth Olympics section is expected to position Nanjing as an Asian sports hub.

The prospective CBD aims to attract more than 400 financial institutions by 2014 and contribute tax revenues amounting to 1.8 billion yuan (US$ 285.19 million) per year.

The S&T park is expected to gather such diverse industries as software, biomedical R&D, new materials, and creative advertising firms, bridging the city's high tech sector to the international sphere.

The residential area will combine housing units with energy conservation and environmentally friendly features, as a demonstration of the city's modernization achievements.