The Smart City, an initiation project of the Southern Maritime Valley in Zhanjiang's Xiashan district, will complete construction of basic infrastructure and public facilities by 2017, Zhanjiang Evening News reported on Nov 10.

The total planning area of the Smart City is about 2,000 mu (133 hectares) and the first phase of the project will cover an area of 500 mu.

It will be divided into four parts, namely a R&D and incubation area, a scientific research and office area, a business area and a commercial and trade area.

The Smart City aims to develop into a key technology innovation base and a cluster for high-end personnel in western Guangdong province by focusing on the electronic information, culture creativity, intelligent processing and smart agriculture industries.

The construction project has a short-term plan and a long-term plan. The short-term plan includes construction of the teaching and scientific research center of Guangdong Medical College affiliated hospital, the first phase of which started this year.

So far, projects surrounding the Smart City, such as the China Mobile (Zhanjiang) Data Center, the headquarters of Guangdong Nanguo Pharmaceutical Co, and the engineering technology research center of Guangdong Tonde Pharmaceutical Co have accelerated their construction.

According to the long-term plan, the Smart City will continue to improve its infrastructure construction, evolve a superior development platform, increase investment in intelligence technology research, and attract more high-tech personnel.