Shanghai is set for a cool change as plans for a massive polar-themed ocean park and the world’s largest indoor ski resort is due to open in July 2018.
As part of the Pudong city mega project, the polar park and indoor ski resort, WinterStar, will open in the Lingang area in the city’s southeast, with the Shanghai Planetarium set to become the world’s largest planetarium. Along with the theme parks, two new universities and other colleges will also be opening its campuses in the area.
This major development aims to entice 10 million international tourists, as well as 450,000 residents, annually by the year 2020, projects the Lingang management committee.
Once completed, the park will display a vast range of Arctic and Antarctic wildlife in a 300,000 square-meter space named Shanghai Polar Ocean World. A 90-minute drive from the city centre, the park will boast four marine animal interactive programmes, three theatres, and 15 entertainment facilities.
Preparation is well underway for the mega-facilities with land preparation on WinterStar progressing and construction started on the Shanghai Planetarium and new campus for the Shanghai University of Electric Power.
Once an industrial port area, the city intends to reinvent itself into a major destination that has strong amenities in science and technology, culture, finance, and trade tourism. Plans for modern office buildings, hotels, shopping malls and conventions centres, as well as a yacht training base in Lingang, are all moves to facilitate this.
The city will also promote green living as plans to add a new light transport network with a fleet of electric buses, vehicle and bicycle sharing programmes, and an efficient public transport system are also on the cards.
The Lingang management committee has also imparted that local professionals are being encouraged to apply for household registration in a bid to attract skilled work people to the development campaign. Such professionals will be offered preferential housing prices, low rents, accommodation subsidies.
