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Shanghai - growth is extraordinary in the 20 million people mega-city

Shanghai

"The development which gave Shanghai an economic growth rate of 11.8 percent last year (2003) will continue, but with more focus on the environment."

Jiao Yang, a spokewoman for Shanghai's government, puts great stress on the environment, as she welcomes JP Explorer in the government building in the heart of the city where approximately 20 million people have their homes.

"We will never allow economic development projects at the expense of the environment. And if a project that seems reasonable in many aspects pollutes the environment and discharges great amounts of greenhouse gases, we will reject it. In the future, the development of Shanghai will have much more focus on the quality of both the lifestyle of the people and nature," underlines Jiao Yang.

This sounds like a politically correct statement, in a country that has been ruled with a firm hand by communists for the last 50 years. But new times have come to Shanghai.

It is almost symbolic that the well-spoken professional and well-prepared spokeswoman has a red calendar in her hand with the Coca-Cola logo on it while she explains the future development of one of the largest cities in the world. Her presentation is almost more characterised by bourgeois ideology about liberalism and good opportunities for industry than the right-wing government in Denmark can deliver.
 
 
Traffic pollution

It can, however, sound a little bit hollow when Jiao Yang speaks about sustainable development in a city where it often feels difficult to breathe because of the air pollution from the traffic. But the intentions are good enough also when the topic is traffic.

"You will maybe experience a bit of chaotic traffic. But we will eventually also manage to control this, even though it may well take us a decade," she says.

And the fact that they are trying to create a green city can be seen all over Shanghai. Even on the highway through the city, trees, bushes, and flowers have been planted along the road. And when bulldozers roll in through a city area and tear down old buildings, they leave room for a row of new skyscrapers as well as new, big, green plazas and parks. The goal is that 10 percent of Shanghai be composed of green areas.

Unfortunately, Jiao Yang cannot deliver precise numbers for the growth of the discharge of the greenhouse gas CO2 in Shanghai for the last years. Maybe because the number is too large... Most of the dwellings and buildings in Shanghai are now equipped with air conditioning, and the number of cars circulating has exploded.

On the other hand ,the local government spokeswoman said that the environment was part of the considerations when the power supply was on the brink of a breakdown last summer during a heat wave.

"When we had problems with the production of sufficient power, we decided first to close down the factories that had the largest discharge of sulphur and other polluting gases."

Jiao Yang admits that pollution, during this time of extraordinary growth, has been, and sometimes still is, a problem. For many days the quality of the air does not comply with the requests of the government, which explains why the smog leaves its mark on the city. The government has therefore introduced a strict monitoring of the air quality.

"At the same time, we have done a lot to decrease the pollution of our rivers. We have, for instance, used 10 years and lots of money to clean the Suchou River, which was completely destroyed by pollution. Today you can catch fish there and dwellings along the river bank have become among the most expensive in the city," explains Jiao Yang.

Three percent of the budget in Shanghai is used for the environment.

The vision of growth is dominating. The spokeswoman proudly tells us that the economic growth rate in the mega-city has been over 10 percent during the last 12 years. During this period, more than 30,000 foreign companies have invested in Shanghai – and last year they invested more than 40 billion Euros. Almost all families now have access to the internet.
 
 

	Shanghai - new skyscrapers

50 Universities

In reality, the recipe for growth and success in Shanghai is very similar to that of countries like Denmark. Shanghai focuses on education. The city already has 50 universities, and the educational system is eager to provide education for all. At the same time, Shanghai focus much more on the service sector at the expense of the more polluting industrial production.

The authorities want to reduce the strict central control and make the system more open.

"We are trying to reduce our own power and instead give more power to both private and other authorities. We are, instead, focusing on advising and supervising the development. We have removed more than 1000 burocratic rules and approvals last year," Jiao Yang says.

Shanghai has followed the Western model, and has introduced spokespersons for the government to ensure more openness with the public on government matters.

"In addition, we will open the governmental websites to people. Next month the first 15 ministries will open their websites to enable the citizens to be informed on what's going on," the spokeswoman informs.

Shanghai is one of the Chinese cities showing the largest growth. And now the government in Beijing has decided that this growth will be spread out to the rest of the enormous country. Shanghai is committed to help a number of poor regions in China to achieve the same development. Shanghai now has the responsibility to help Tibet, Sichuan, Yunnan and Xinjiang.

"For this purpose, we have created a special department to distribute money and goods. This department will help build schools and hospitals, while we educate people or send them teachers. We are also sending people from our companies out to these regions, in order to share our technological knowledge with them," Jiao Yang tells.
 
 

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