Developers aim to make Shanghai Pudong Software Park one of China's largest software industry bases within the next two years by offering support services to the entire industry, China Daily reports Friday.
The park facilities will eventually cover a floor space of 500,000 square meters. The total investment involved will exceed 1.65 billion yuan (US$198.7 million) by the end of 2005.
The city is aiming to attract over 2,000 foreign and Chinese software companies to set up in the park by that time. It is estimated that the combined annual revenue of these companies will be 13 billion yuan (US$1.57 billion).
Exports of software from the companies registered in the park are expected to make 400 million dollars a year.
"The advanced facilities are not enough to shape the park into China's Silicon Valley. Support services to software manufacturing companies are crucial to realizing that objective," Zhu Guoxing, the software park's division chief, was quoted by the paper as saying.
More than 180 professional software production companies already have a presence in the park. The park's management is establishing software testing and evaluation systems, consultancy systems, a software professional training center and a software market information center.
(Xinhua News Agency May 9, 2003)
