Lujiazui Photo:VCG

Known as the "Manhattan of the East," Lujiazui Financial City in Shanghai's Pudong New Area is making efforts to improve its building economy with the aim of having two commercial buildings whose tax revenues exceed 10 billion yuan ($1.54 billion) in 2021, local authorities said on Friday.

Lujiazui saw its GDP exceed 520 billion yuan in 2020, with tax revenue from 110 buildings exceeding 100 million yuan each; 32 over 1 billion yuan, 20 over 2 billion yuan, and 4 over 6 billion, Zhang Yuxiang, director of Lujiazui Management Bureau, said during a conference on Friday in Shanghai. Shanghai's GDP was 3.87 trillion yuan in 2020, with its per capita GDP exceeding $23,000.

Despite facing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and changes in the international environment, the building economy in Lujiazui has maintained a good trend. 

A total of 16 building owners including Zhejiang-based Xingyue Group Co and Thai conglomerate CP Group have reduced rent by over 72.9 million yuan for 596 small- and medium-sized enterprises during the period of the epidemic, according to Zhang. Meanwhile, financial institutions including Bank of Communications have provided more than 80 million yuan of low-interest loans to catering enterprises. 

In order to improve the business environment and attract more investors from home and abroad, the financial hub has established committees in 39 commercial buildings. These units work as "community neighborhood committees" to solve all the problems for the companies such as handling trash and installing ventilating system.

The building economy has been the highlight of Lujiazui Financial City, where 285 commercial buildings are located. With an area of 31.78 square kilometers and located on the east bank of Huangpu River, the region has over 40,000 firms and 500,000 employees who are mostly well-educated and high-skilled.