A perfomance in Hong Kong's Disneyland theme park. Shanghai's Disneyland received the green light from Chinese authorities last November. It was expected to cover a relatively small 4 square kilometers at a cost of 25 billion yuan (3.6 billion U.S. dollars).
Walt Disney Co. inked a deal with a Shanghai firm Friday at a ceremony marking the start of a long-awaited theme park project in China's largest city.
Shanghai Shendi Group Co. Ltd., a state-owned company registered in August, signed the deal with Disney for the development of Disney's Shanghai project.
Shanghai International Tourism Resort Administrative Committee, a new government agency, was set up Friday to manage the project.
Shanghai's Disneyland received the green light from Chinese authorities a year ago. It was expected to cover a relatively small 4 square kilometers at a cost of 25 billion yuan (3.6 billion U.S. dollars).
The project will be in the heart of a planned "international tourism resort" that covers 20 square kilometers in Shanghai's Pudong New District.
A Shanghai government spokesman said the theme park and the low-carbon tourism resort would be a key program in the city's development strategies for the coming five years.
He did not mention, however, when construction would start.
Shanghai Disneyland will be the U.S. entertainment giant's third theme park in Asia after Tokyo and Hong Kong.
