Oktoberfest in China? Developer woos businesses with a replica German city in Hengqin near Macau
- Hengqin German City has engaged Siemens to set up base and study the feasibility of an electric car venture
- Developer seeks to retain half of the properties to ensure its sustainability as sales are temporarily halted amid coronavirus outbreak
A replica German city is taking off in Hengqin near Macau, targeting overseas investors seeking a beachhead in China’s new economic hub in the Greater Bay Area.
Hong Kong-listed developer TFG International is spending 1.6 billion yuan (US$229 million) to build the project known as Hengqin German City on a 60,400 square metre site on an island south of Zhuhai in Guangdong province. The island is connected to Macau, the world’s biggest gambling hub, by the 1.76km Lotus Bridge.
The city will feature a main street replete with German architecture, with shops offering German food, beer, medical services and a hi-tech business centre, the developer said. There will be 1,100 office units in four high-rise towers, a 120-room hotel and an international exhibition centre when the development is completed in 2021.
“The project can serve as an alternative for German firms entering the GBA,” said Albert Yu Shun-hui, co-chairman of TFG. “It will target more than 500 German firms, or companies in Hong Kong and Macau involved in German technology and business, to set up offices there.”
TFG has generated 230 million yuan from the sale of 200 office units when it launched the first round of sale last November, Yu added. The second round of sale has been suspended because of the coronavirus outbreak that has prompted the local government to close all casinos for two weeks from February 4.
Yu, who is based in Hong Kong, said Siemens has agreed to set up a base in the project to study feasibility of the location for making electric cars to cater to the Chinese market. Tesla rolled out its first Made-in-China electric cars from its US$5 billion plant in Lingang near Shanghai last month.