Yangtze River Delta Region: Experts at Lujiazui Forum discuss region's future

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On the second day of the Lujiazui Forum in Shanghai, experts discussed the integration of the Yangtze River Delta Region, one of the most urbanized areas of China. Some of the nation's top cities like Shanghai and Hangzhou lie within the region. The government hopes the area will develop into a tightly-connected high tech city circle. Yang Chengxi had more.

From a well-laid plan, to now a national strategy, integrating the Yangtze River Delta Region has become a high priority. It's one of China's major policy zones like the Greater Bay Area in the South, and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in the north. Eastern China's delta region has its own advantages.

ROBERT MCKELLAR ASIA-PACIFIC EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, SAVILLS "I think the logic and the reasons are pretty obvious. Clearly, we have a very well integrated infrastructure and transport hub within the key provincial cities in the Yangtze river delta like Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Suzhou etc. You improve the flow of goods and services between those cities and of course the general economy."

Building on the region's connectivity, the government wants to build a world-class city cluster in the region by next year. Real estate experts say that may potentially change people's lifestyles in the future.

ROBERT MCKELLAR ASIA-PACIFIC EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, SAVILLS "If you got a very efficient network of transportation where you could travel to your work within an hour or two, and then go back home to a very nice house, a fairly nice environment at a much lower price, I think people would start to move out as we've seen in other cities across the world like London for example."

And that presents an opportunity for residential real estate developers.

ROBERT MCKELLAR ASIA-PACIFIC EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, SAVILLS "And I think developers will see residential in some of the third tier cities as a key facet that maybe hasn't seen the growth that has been before."

The region is eastern China's technology hub with companies like Alibaba in Hangzhou, and high-tech is the direction that officials and experts envision. Take the G60 Technology Innovation Valley strategy that spans across 9 cities in the region, where local governments provide support policies for tech start-ups.

YANG CHENGXI SHANGHAI "Experts at the Lujiazui Forum said the launch of a new Science and Technology Innovation Stock Board on Thursday is going to help the region's effort to become more high-tech oriented."

WU HO-WEI, LECTURER IN ECONOMICS CHINA EUROPE INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS SCHOOL "Of the industry within that valley you see most of it being the ones that the tech board is trying to attract. With the companies that had already reported for listing you can see it this is what we see as well. So this is how I think the tech board will really help integrate the whole region together."

This January Shanghai city launched a 7 billion yuan industrial fund - that's just over one billion US dollars - aimed at further promoting the new industries. YCX, CGTN, SHANGHAI.