A total of 36 key projects in Life and Health Town, Suzhou New District (SND), started construction on Feb 23, with a total investment of 59 billion yuan ($9.38 billion).
This year, SND has introduced 120 key practical projects, with a total investment of 177.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 24.5 percent. The planned investment in the year reached 38.8 billion yuan, increasing by 16.2 percent compared with the previous year.
Life and Health Town
The Life and Health Town has a total investment of 12 billion yuan. Its planned area amounts to 3.96 square kilometers with a core area of 1.15 square kilometers. The town aims to become the world's leading scientific research and development cluster. It will build a public service platform for life sciences, improve the level of scientific and technological personnel through training and build a big life database to promote the development of the life and health industry.
The town revolves around the industrial layout of “one park, one district, two institutions and three centers”. Three closely connected themes of production, life and ecology realize the integration of “production, township, humanity and culture”.
The town has residential areas, a health industrial park, a gene conference site, a research institute, health care and living facilities and hotels. The Suzhou BGI Life Health Research and Testing Center will construct a genetic testing and custom industrial park, service facilities for the industrial park, a genetic testing institute, a genetic testing research institute, a cell center and a data center.
Suzhou Science and Technology Town
The new generation information technology industrial park is located in Suzhou Science and Technology Town, with many corporate and R&D offices. The construction of the industrial park will highlight the development of big data R&D incubators, production and research platform and exchange carriers for industries.
It will also combine with the established core supporting areas and take advantage of industrial agglomeration of big data-related leading enterprises such as the Institute of Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Jiangsu Centre Integration Technology Co and Shanshi Networks to promote upgrading of traditional industries. It aims to become a national big data innovation experiment area.
The Suzhou Nationalities Orchestra Concert Hall and its supporting facilities will also be built in Suzhou Science and Technology Town. It will cover an area of 18,000 square meters and be capable of holding up to 700 people. It will become another cultural landmark in the western part of SND.
Shishan town
The Shishan Plaza, located at the foot of Lion Mountain, has a planned area of 1,325 mu (88.3 hectares) and a total investment of approximately 5.4 billion yuan. It aims to create a public space for urban landscapes and a central park for urban culture and to become a new business card and landmark of Suzhou.
The plaza is divided into a science and technology museum-industrial exhibition hall, an art theatre, a museum, underground spaces, a characteristic cultural street and a parking lot. After construction, it will form a new urban axis and an open space landscape pattern, and guide the integration of urban ecology, culture and health.
The science and technology museum will be an extremely large stadium, including a permanent hall, a temporary exhibition hall, a special effect screening room and supporting areas for children. The art theatre will be a high-end cultural performance venue and landmark building containing 1,200 multi-function theaters, 200 small theatres and 400 medium-sized theaters. The museum will become the second largest museum of Suzhou displaying Wu culture and providing high-quality social functions. The cultural and commercial street will display intangible cultural heritages such as embroidery, peach-stone carvings and Kunqu Opera.
In addition, the Shishan section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal will also be renovated to create recreational public space. From Fengqiao town to Hengtang town, the 8.8-km canal scenery belt, near the ancient city of Suzhou, will pass through the bustling city, which will create a new lifestyle.
A bicycle corridor 45.8 kilometers long and 3 meters wide will be built in the west district of Suzhou. It will start from Jindong Road in the north and pass Taihu Lake in the west, Sanyang village in the south, Wanfo Temple, Taihu Lake Wetland Park, Embroidery Street and Changxiang Farm in the east, and eventually return to Jinshu Old Street.
The corridor will link tourist attractions along Taiku Lake with cultural landscapes and featured towns, as well as provide visitors with slow and relaxed rambling excursions. The main loop of the corridor is expected to be completed this year.
