China's successful bid to host the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai will bring great benefits to local residents, commentators predict.
Dr. Chen Wei, researcher with the Economics Institute of Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said large international activities not only promoted development of host cities, but also enhanced the life styles of citizens due to increased international contact.
Zhou Chenggang, president of Shanghai New Oriental School, considered the new fervor for English study would soon overwhelm the city.
The expo will also create numerous employment opportunities for Shanghai residents.
Wang Junyi, an official of Shanghai's World Expo Bidding Office, said that with a total investment of 20 billion yuan (US$2.4 billion), the Expo would offer many jobs in infrastructure projects involving transport, hydropower and venue building.
It is expected that the service and construction industries, including tourism, hotels, catering, transport, communications, advertising, shops and architecture, would progress greatly in the next decade.
By the end of 2010, the service trades in Shanghai would account for more than 60 percent of jobs, said Zhu Junyi, director of Shanghai's Labor and Social Security Bureau.
Shanghai residents will also enjoy more green areas and fresher air as the city prepares for the World Expo. By 2010, the average per capita green area will amount to over 10 square meters, with the green coverage reaching 40 percent.
Traffic problems would not be the "bottleneck" curbing the city's development, according to Liu Guilin, director of Shanghai's Communications Bureau.
A comprehensive network combining underground, road and rail transport would be established in Shanghai. In eight years time, the city would have 1,000 taxi stations and 8,000 high-grade buses, with 60 percent of buses equipped with air-conditioners.
The Expo construction projects would enable residents within 10 square kilometers surrounding the Expo site to move to new houses with better conditions.
Zhang Hongming, director of the Real Estate Research Institute of Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said the world's greatest exhibition event would propel Shanghai's property market.
More foreigners would come to settle in the city and their purchasing power would trigger the surge in real estate.
(Xinhua News Agency December 7, 2002)
