The Shanghai World Expo scheduled for 2010 will cost about 25 billion yuan (about US$3.01 billion), according to Jiang Yingshi, director of the Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission.   

Addressing a forum on Shanghai World Expo Thursday, Jiang said 17 billion yuan (about US$2.05 billion) will be spent in land acquisition and relocation of residents and institutions, and another 8 billion yuan (about US$964 million) will go to construction of facilities for the expo.

Shanghai World Expo Group Corporation will soon be set up to take charge of fund raising, management and debt repayment for the expo, said Jiang.

Zhu Linchu, deputy head of the development and research center of Shanghai Municipal People's Government, said apart from advancing modernization and internationalization of the service trade, the expo would propel the municipality's gross domestic product (GDP) to grow at an annual average rate of about two percent over the next seven years.

The six-month expo will attract more tourists. It is expected that the city will host 130 million - 150 million domestic tourists, plus 5 - 6 million overseas tourists in 2010, according to Shanghai Municipal Commission on Administration for the Tourism Industry.

The forecast said that by 2010, the added value generated by the tourism industry will contribute about 10 percent to the city's GDP.

(Xinhua News Agency November 1, 2003)