K Wah joins the frenzy over Shanghai zone
Developer banks on residential project to drive expansion but plays down free-trade area's threat to HK's role as regional financial centre
Hong Kong developer K Wah International has jumped on the bandwagon of the free-trade zone in Shanghai, hoping its upcoming residential project near the zone may anchor its expansion plans in the mainland's commercial hub.
K Wah plans to start construction soon of a residential complex with a ground floor area of about 30,000 square metres at Jinqiao, which is just a few kilometres from the free-trade zone.
The zone is envisaged by Shanghai as a "mini-Hong Kong" that will further integrate the city into the global economy.
The development at Jinqiao would benefit from the fanfare surrounding the free-trade zone, K Wah said.
It also said it would continue to boost its land bank in Shanghai should opportunities arise.
The plan to build the mainland's first free-trade zone - an area where goods can be processed and re-exported without the intervention of the custom authorities and free cross-border capital flows are allowed - has stoked concerns among some critics that Shanghai would eventually dent Hong Kong's role as the regional financial and trade centre.
But K Wah founder and chairman Lui Che-woo played down these concerns and encouraged Hong Kong residents to take a global perspective and grasp opportunities worldwide.
