Shanghai invests $3.7b on Disneyland project

BEIJING - The approved investment for the first phase of the Disneyland project in Shanghai stands at 24.5 billion yuan ($3.7 billion), Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng said Sunday.

"I have read some media reports about the Disneyland investment, but they were incorrect," said Han while attending the ongoing annual parliamentary session in Beijing.

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"I thereby clarify the figure seriously. The approved investment for the first phase of the Disneyland project is 24.5 billion yuan," he told reporters.

The long-awaited theme park project in Shanghai was launched in November last year, when the state-owned Shanghai Shendi Group Co. Ltd. inked a deal with the Walt Disney Co for the development of the project.

The Shanghai International Tourism Resort Administrative Committee will manage the project.

It will be the first Disneyland theme park on the Chinese mainland and sixth in the world, and the U.S. entertainment giant's third theme park in Asia after Tokyo and Hong Kong.

The first phase of the Disneyland theme park will be built and put into operation within the 2011-2015 period.

"I hope construction on the project can start soon. Currently, both sides are endeavoring to do some preliminary work," Han said.

Shanghai's Disneyland project received the green light from the Chinese authorities in 2009.

Disney and the Chinese side had been negotiating on and off for more than a decade, and the last round of negotiation took months.