Upon its completion in three to five years, the zone is expected to become one of the service outsourcing hubs in China. |
Soft service outsourcing will be a key part of Tianjin's development due to the Tianjin Binhai Service Outsourcing Industrial Zone, which went operational in September 2009.
The zone is jointly operated by Tianjin Economic-Technological Area (TEDA) and Dalian Software Park Co Ltd (DSLP), the leading software outsourcing provider in China. With a land area of 890,000 sq m, and planned floor space to reach 1.5 million sq m, including 1 million sq m for factory and office buildings, and 500,000 sq m for hotels and apartments.
Five office and factory buildings, with a total floor space of 88,244 sq m, were put into use last September, marking the start of the zone's first-phase of operation.
In addition to the office and factory buildings, there are also facilities for living, catering, relaxing and entertainment. The surrounding landscape has been made pleasant with trees, grass and ponds.
So far, 17 companies have settled in the zone, including the operations of DSLP, Tencent, Standard Chartered, Vimicro, the Bank of Bohai and the Everbright Bank. Most of these companies hope to be operational in two years.
The Tianjin Training Center of Service Outsourcing, began operating a year ago and will be China's largest training center in the industry. The only service outsourcing training institution authorized by the Ministry of Commerce, it is expected to offer training services to more than 10,000 people annually in the next three years.
Another project in the zone is the National Supercomputing Center in Tianjin. The first-phase of the project began operation in January this year. After full operation, the center is expected to lead to the forming of an industry chain worth 10 billion yuan in the zone.
Second-phase construction of the industrial zone is scheduled to begin at the end of this year.
According to its development plan, the zone is expected to become one of the nation's leading international outsourcing hubs generating jobs for more than 60,000 people within three to five years.
(China Daily 06/11/2010 page19) |