Baoshan District will take great efforts to develop Changxing and Hengsha islands, officials announced at a symposium on the district's investment environment over the weekend.

According to a blueprint, Changxing Island, covering an area of 120 square kilometers, will become the world's largest shipbuilding base and the much-smaller Hengsha Island, with an area of 52 square kilometers, will become an ecological tourist island.

"The government will design the two islands based on their different conditions," said Cheng Hongyuan, an expert in international economics at East China Normal University. "Changxing Island has a long and narrow shape and boasts of a 59-kilometer-long coastline. Hengsha Island has a nice ecological environment since almost no industry is developed there."

China State Shipbuilding Corp, the state-owned shipbuilding giant, hopes to set up a plant with an annual capacity of 8 million tons on Changxing Island, accounting for two thirds of the city's total shipbuilding capacity.

The corporation plans to move Jiangnan Shipyard (Group) Co Ltd, one of its subsidiary companies, to the island from its current location on the bank of the Huangpu River to make room for the 2010 World Expo.

"To support the shipbuilding industry, the municipal government gave us an eight-kilometer-long stretch of coastline, which is unprecedented," said Chen Xiaojin, general manager of the corporation. "Our goal is to turn Shanghai into the world's largest shipbuilding base. By 2015, the city's annual shipbuilding capacity is expected to reach 12 million tons."

Hengsha Island, which is known for its oranges, will be developed into an international convention, tourist and entertainment center.

(Source: www.sh.gov.cn )