Huaqiao International Service Business Park is situated in the Kunshan Huaqiao Economic Development Zone, on the border between Shanghai Municipality and Jiangsu Province. Covering an area of 50 square kilometers, the Park is less than 25 kilometers away from Shanghai. The Park was listed by the provincial party committee and government as one of the demonstration zones specializing in modern services and one of the major projects of the province's "11th Five-Year Plan". As one of the financial hubs of the province, the Park was approved as a provincial development zone in 2006 and provincial demonstration zone of international outsourcing services in 2007.
The Park will fully display its geographical advantages to be influenced by Shanghai in accordance to its functions and aim. It will provide services for business affairs in Shanghai and make every effort to establish an outsourcing service base and a national financial outsourcing demonstration zone. Its four major industries include an outsourcing service, a background processing center for financial institutes, regional headquarters for manufacturing enterprises and a logistics and purchasing center. The outsourcing service includes: multinational enterprises; IT service for domestic giant corporations and customer service; a background processing center for financial institutes including financial settlement centers, credit card service centers and customer service centers for big financial institutes like banks, securities and insurance companies; regional headquarters for manufacturing enterprises including operating centers, research and development centers, purchasing centers, marketing centers and management service centers; and logistics and purchasing centers including project hotels, shopping, cultural and housing projects. The Park aims to build a satellite business center in Shanghai, a metropolis city with a customer population of 300,000 and a structural area of 10 million square kilometers, within five to ten years.
As the only provincial development zone specializing in the modern service industry, Huaqiao has unique advantages in undertaking business spillover from Shanghai and developing a modern service industry.
First are its geographical advantages. Huaqiao faces Shanghai International Auto City on the east and Suzhou Industrial Park Zone on the west. It is located 16 kilometers west from the suburb of Kunshan and 20 kilometers east from the People's square in central Shanghai. Also, it is near transportation hubs – 16 kilometers away from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport and Hongqiao fast railway hub, and 80 kilometers away from Pudong International Airport. In terms of road transportation, No 312 National Road passes though the province from east to west. Shanghai-Ningbo Express Way and Tongjiang-Sanya Express Way meet here and have entrances to each other. The Huaqiao section and Lujia section on Shanghai-Ningbo Express Way join up. The airport section of the Suzhou-Shanghai Express Way provides accessible service for the Park from the east, south and north of the Park. With regard to railway transportation, it takes only 18 minutes to travel between Shanghai and Kunshan by the inter-cities express train. Both Shanghai-Ningbo express railway and Beijing-Shanghai railway have stops at Kunshan. In terms of subway, it is less than 400 meters away from Moyu Road Station on subway No 11 to the Park. Currently, the Park is in contact with officials about the expansion of a light railway to the Park. When it comes to public transportation, the Park is working on public transportation networks and taxi systems accessible to Shanghai.
Second are industry advantages. As an important processing and manufacturing base, Kunshan has attracted more than 5,000 foreign-funded projects from 55 countries and regions. Kunshan now has 53 projects funded by 28 of the top 500 world enterprises and as many as 18,000 private ventures. The momentous development of the manufacturing industry has driven increasing demand of the modern service industry and extraordinary growth of producer services, providing unprecedented opportunities for the Park.
Third are advantages in policy support. The Park is a development zone of the provincial level and an international outsourcing service center. As a major project specialized in modern services of the province, the Park enjoys not only the province's preferential policies on modern service development, but also aids in the aspect of funds, land and tax offered by the provincial government. The Park also shares the tax-protected function with the Kunshan export processing zone and takes targeting measures to support leading projects. Against the background of increasing costs of business services, the Park has even more prominent advantages in factor costs like the price of land, houses and labor, hard costs including infrastructure facilities and project construction, and soft costs like government services.
Fourth are advantages in comprehensive service. With the aim of being "friendly, comforting and beneficial to businessmen", the Park is making efforts to establish management nets and procedures in accordance with international norms and three major service platforms to provide efficient, convenient and whole-process services. First is specializing service platforms. The Park will introduce well-known international and domestic accounting firms, auditing firms, layer offices and consultation firms to provide high-level intermediary and consultation services. Second is establishing public technology service and information service platforms to provide various services including public services like technology research and development, quality guarantees, testing, presenting and IPR protection, and information services like regulations, policies and industries. The court of Kunshan has now established the first IPR court of the county city level. Third is establishing a human resources platform. Kunshan currently boasts 180,000 talents of various kinds. Several educational institutes including Guihu University, PLA University of Foreign Languages and Suzhou University are able to train qualified personnel for the Park. Also, the Kunshan human resource market has signed agreements of designated talent training projects with more than 120 universities in cities including Shanghai, Nanjing and Beijing.
With the aim of "incorporating Shanghai, facing the world and serving Jiangsu", Huaqiao has borrowed international advanced planning concepts and invited top-end planning and designing institutes for function scheming, general planning and city planning. From now on, Huaqiao will form a city-like layout with the central park as the core and surrounding business parks to make itself into an ecological business functional zone, with concentrated business, supporting business facilities, community housing and beautiful surroundings.
Huaqiao is currently making every effort to accelerate construction. First, to form a relatively-improved regional transportation network, including the eastern-extension of Lvdi Road, Shangwu Road, and reconstruction of the Cao'an section of National No 312 Road as the major projects. Second is establishing high-standard infrastructure facilities, making a dual circuit ring network power supply, drinkable tap water and fine natural gas accessible in the Park. In terms of communication, advanced cable, a broadband network and Shanghai's area code 021 will be introduced. Third is to equip the Park with perfect facilities and an ecological system. Ecological landscapes like a central park and ecological park will be built next year, a five-star hotel (funded by Hong Kong Oriental Overseas Company and run by Hilton International Hotel), a hospital, kindergarten, supermarkets, fast food restaurants, and recreational and gym facilities will all be built. Four golf courts will meet the high-quality demand for cultural and recreational life. Within the next two years, the Park will complete construction of infrastructure facilities, supporting facilities and ecological environment of high standards to build the best place for modern service development and for merchants to work in.
Development of Huaqiao has drawn wide attention at home and abroad. More than 60 large-scaled modern service projects with a total investment of 20 trillion yuan have already been introduced. Some of the projects like Lvdi International Community and Asian-Pacific square have been put into use, while others are under construction. Several famous international and domestic enterprises have confidence in Huaqiao and are currently negotiating with us.
Huaqiao is an investment paradise full of energy and momentum. In the coming years, we will fully display our four major advantages. We will make all efforts to establish a new brand of modern service, especially the outsourcing service to make the Park a good platform for the development of business offices, regional headquarters, logistics exhibitions, BPO and ITO. We warmly welcome inquiries and investment of merchants at home and abroad. Let's join hands and build a rosy future for Huaqiao.
