STOP a Universal Studios Shangai

[Dream]

China suspends Universal Studios project

Published Thu, Jul 15, 2004
By ELAINE KURTENBACH, AP Business Writer
SHANGHAI, China (AP) - Authorities in Shanghai have suspended work on a Universal Studios theme park as China slows down major building projects in an effort to cool off surging economic growth, a city official said Thursday.

The city postponed work after an inspection team sent by China's central government reviewed local development plans, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Work on an underwater tunnel that would have connected the city with Chongming Island, in the Yangtze River, and plans to build new subway lines were also postponed, said the official, an executive in the city's Metropolitan Transportation Policy Office.

Construction of the Shanghai World Financial Center, a 101-story skyscraper slated for completion in 2007, and a horse race track planned for Chongming Island were among other projects temporarily shelved, the state-run newspaper 21st Century Business Herald said in an online report Thursday.

It was unclear when work on the theme park and other projects might resume.

Universal executives earlier acknowledged delays in their project and announced they had laid off two dozen people hired to work on the theme park. They blamed administrative problems.

According to the 21st Century Business Herald, land-clearing work for the project began and then was suspended pending final approval from the State Council, China's cabinet.

The Universal Studios park, a mix of Hollywood and traditional Chinese themes, was due to open in 2006 in Pudong, a sprawling area of eastern Shanghai.

The park would tap into China's booming domestic tourism industry by luring visitors from wealthy coastal provinces around the city. But it also would compete with a new Disneyland scheduled to open in Hong Kong in 2005.

The government has been tightening bank lending and canceling or postponing many projects as it seeks to curb soaring investment that it says is fueling inflation and may cause financial problems.

It also has been reviewing land use plans following protests by farmers and other residents forced off their land by industrial parks, golf courses and other development projects.

Parece ser que el proyecto donde las obras ya habian comenzado ha sido "aturado". No se sabe si definitivamente o temporalmente pero.... yo no se como va a acabar esto de los parques Universal, recordemos tb que NBC no va a realizar las expansiones que tenia previstas para los resorts en USA.