Wanda Group pours billions of dollars into Shenyang

Chinese industrial giant Wanda Group is dramatically scaling up its investments in Shenyang, capital city of Northeast China's Liaoning province, with plans to pour in an additional 80 billion yuan ($11.64 billion) in the upcoming years, in response to its great economic prospects.

The new investment will mainly flow into cultural tourism, education, healthcare and modern services -- in the form of a mega cultural tourism project, an international school, an international hospital and five Wanda Plazas, according to Wanda board chairman Wang Jianlin who was speaking at a signing ceremony held in Shenyang on May 15.

The Wanda cultural tourism project, including the Wanda Cultural Tourism City, a sports park and related hotels, will cover an area of 267 hectares. The 400,000-square-meter international hospital -- providing medical, rehabilitation and nursing services -- will be operated by world-class hospital management teams, and the international school will provide a boarding service targeted at primary and middle school students.

Wangda Group signs a strategic cooperation agreement with the government of Shenyang to invest another 80 billion yuan in the city, on May 15. [Photo/chinanews.com]

Meanwhile, the five Wanda Plazas will be established in the Shenbei and Dadong districts of Shenyang, filling a gap in the above-mentioned areas that lack large-scale modern commercial facilities.

The Wanda commercial property and services giant has already invested about 25 billion yuan in Shenyang since it inked a strategic cooperation agreement with the city 18 years ago.

Currently, there are a total of six Wanda projects operating in Shenyang, all making profits.

Wang attributed Wanda's heavy investment in Shenyang to the city's good economic prospects and improved business environment.

"The economy of Shenyang has rebounded after hitting rock bottom and has shown a good development trend," Wang said.

Shenyang's business environment has also undergone profound change, with an abundance of warm and thoughtful services and greatly improved efficiency, he added. 

It took only one month from negotiations to signing off on the investment projects, and the two sides agreed to start construction of the projects in the third quarter of this year.

Wang Jianlin, chairman of Wanda Group, delivers a speech at an investment project signing ceremony held in Shenyang on May 15. [Photo/chinanews.com]