Guangzhou's glittering financial centre turns into a 'Lost City'
Citic Plaza is the symbol of Guangzhou's central business district. Built in 1997, the 80-storey megastructure - the world's tallest concrete building - towers over office blocks and shopping malls on busy Tianhe North Road.
A few kilometres to the south, a clutch of rivals are sprouting from the ground. Twin skyscrapers - East Tower and West Tower - are set to replace Citic Plaza as the tallest buildings in Guangzhou. Standing side by side, the East Tower will be a four-sided, 120-storey building on a five-storey podium, while the curved West Tower, also called the International Financial Centre, has been topped off at 110 storeys.
The towers are the centrepiece of the city's most significant new development - Zhujiang New Town. It occupies more than six square kilometres of prime real estate along the Pearl River, making it 15 times the size of the West Kowloon Cultural District.
The Guangzhou government envisages the area as an answer to Shanghai's Pudong, a financial centre for the south to compete with Beijing and Shanghai in attracting multinational corporations and financial institutions. The eastern side of the development is devoted to luxury housing aimed at expats, financiers and executives. On the western side are the skyscrapers, hotels and convention facilities.
To fill the many new buildings, the city is offering some eye-catching financial inducements.
Companies that move their headquarters to Zhujiang New Town can receive a subsidy of up to 5 million yuan (HK$5.68 million), and they get a 30 per cent reduction on rent. Those who buy office space will receive a discount of 1,000 yuan per square metre, while the same is on offer for luxury housing for the companies' senior executives.
All in all, the vision is bold and grand. But it is also severely flawed.
Signs that all wasn't well emerged last summer when party secretary Zhu Xiaodan made uncharacteristically harsh remarks on the area's planning. 'Zhujiang New Town is six square kilometres, but the planning is a mess,' he said. 'It is supposed to have everything, which confuses the major function. It is a CBD. How can we have a residential block on one side, a government office on the other and an outdoor food stall nearby?'
Zhu stressed that the aim of Zhujiang New Town was to attract top multinationals and international financial companies. To do this, he said, the town would need developers with a track record of doing the same thing in Beijing, Shanghai or Hong Kong.
Property prices in Zhujiang New Town are high. In April, W Residence, managed by W Hotel, was launched with an average sale price of 25,000 yuan per square metre, the most expensive residential property in Guangzhou.
However, the vast majority of apartments have been bought by developers and most are empty - meaning Zhujiang New Town is a desolate place. Locals have taken to calling it the 'Lost City' and few taxi drivers know the roads.
While property speculation and poor planning are concerns, Zhujiang New Town's bigger problem is the futility of Guangzhou's quest to become a 'financial hub'. Free movement of international capital and a stock exchange - the two basic criteria - are missing. What is more, southern China already has a financial hub - Hong Kong (and to a lesser extent Shenzhen).
David Webb, an independent market researcher based in Hong Kong, categorically rejected Guangzhou's chances of becoming a financial hub. 'You can't just build offices and put up a sign,' he said.
