A press conference for soliciting conceptual general design and international bidding for the design of the “Source of Life International Square” of the Beijing Bioengineering and Pharmaceutical Base was held in Beijing International Hotel on July 28. It is another important event of its kind following the Contest of Individual Industrial Workshop Architectural Design, held on July 8.
Advantageous location
The major site of the base is located in Daxing District in the southern suburbs of Beijing, south of the 6th Ring Road and north of Weiyong Road, bordering the Beijing-Kaifeng Expressway in the east and the Yongding River in the west. It boasts an advantageous geographic position: 18 km from Fuxingmen in downtown Beijing, 40 minutes’ ride to the Beijing Capital International Airport, 90 minutes’ ride to the Tianjin Port, and only 1.5 km to the Huangcun railway freight yard which handles 14 million tons of freight annually.
The whole acreage of the industrial base is about 28 square kilometers, and the first phase of construction covers 8.88 square kilometers. Green vegetations circle the base, and its water resources may also be guaranteed as it is close to the Niantan Reservoir and the trunk canal of the South-North Water Transfer Project. The base also neighbors Huangcun, a satellite town of Beijing, which has completed urban engineering and accessory facilities. Available within a radius of five kilometers around the neighborhood are varieties of villas and apartment houses, shopping centers, schools and entertainment and recreational facilities such as golf course.
Other concerned establishments, including Beijing’s central business district (CBD), foreign embassy district, financial street, the Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park and the capital’s major shopping centers, hospitals and entertainment facilities, are all within the reach of 20 km.
Also, 46 medical and bio-pharmaceutical institutions, accounting for 93.5 percent of Beijing’s total, are in the easy reach of the base, including the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Hospital of Peking University, Capital University of Medical Sciences, State Food and Drug Administration, National Institute for the Control of Pharmaceutical and Biological Products, and so on.
These institutes have provided innovative drive for the development of the industrial zone.
Abundant resources and critical opportunity
China’s bioengineering and pharmaceutical industry has been developing rapidly since the beginning of the 21st century. The country’s medicine market is one of those experiencing the rapidest development in the world, and Beijing is China’s largest market of medical products, its annual total sales of 2002 having reached 12 billion yuan (about US$1.5 billion). Meanwhile, Beijing is the center of research and exploration, inspection and evaluation, supervision and clinical practice of the nation’s biotechnological and pharmaceutical products.
The Beijing municipal government issued the document entitled “Essentials of Vitalizing Beijing Bioengineering and Pharmaceutical Industry” in early 2002. In July that year, as a further step, it set this industry as one of the four major industries to be promoted as the capital’s modern manufacturing industries. After sufficient appraising, General Office of the Beijing Municipal People’s Government officially published the decision on December 31, 2002 to build the Beijing Bioengineering and Pharmaceutical Industrial Base in the Daxing Industrial Development Zone.
The industrial base is aimed to become a major national base in the area of biotechnology and pharmacy. It is to attract large-scaled enterprises from home and aboard and enterprises with own intellectual property and nuclear competitive power to invest in Beijing. Meanwhile, the base will offer a sound investment environment and top-level service and facilities. It’s expected that its total sales income will reach 10 billon yuan (about US$120 million) in five years, and exceed 40 billion yuan (about US$483 million) in 10 years, and the base will help promote the development of biotechnology and pharmacy in the capital and the country as a whole.
Excellent layout
The industrial base not only emphasizes service but also infrastructure construction. It is composed of four areas including R&D and enterprise incubation zone, processing zone, trade and circulation zone and living zone.
In order to build the base with high standard of quality and efficiency, the Development Planning Office of Daxing District, together with the Administration of Daxing Industrial Development Zone, entrusted by the Daxing District Government, organized the press conference for layout-scheme collection and bidding.
After strict preliminary examination, 20 designing companies have been invited for the bid. Winner of the overall layout scheme or design of the Life Source International Square from abroad will get US$150,000, while domestic winner will have 1.25 million yuan.
The industrial base hopes that the global bid will gain the first-class designing scheme from the world, which may lay a good foundation for sustainable development in the zone as well as in the adjacent areas.
High efficiency
With the support of the Beijing municipal government and the Daxing District Government, construction of the base has been initiated.
The basic infrastructures in the initial area of 2.33 square kilometers, such as water supply, electricity and road, have been completed. Relavant departments have also confirmed the scope of the first phase, which occupies an area of 6.55 square kilometers.
(China.org.cn August 1, 2003)
