Opinion Shanghai’s surprises

Mascot Haibao was everywhere — soft toys on the streets,cutouts in hotel lobbies,stickers on restaurant windows. China Eastern even had the Better City,Better Life theme line painted on its aircraft. Young volunteers,speaking English and armed with maps of the expo venue,guided visitors,aware that there were going to be no more rehearsals. This was the real thing.

Watching the spectacle unfold,a colleague mentioned the Commonwealth Games. India must be all ready and waiting,he said. I told him Delhi still had 150 days to go for the Games opener.

What I didn’t tell him was that less than a year had separated the award of the bids to the two cities — entirely different events yet prestigious. Shanghai won the right to host the 2010 Expo in December 2002 — it beat Yeosu in South Korea at the 132nd meeting of the BIE (Bureau of International Exhibitions) in Monte Carlo. Delhi won the right to host the 2010 Games in November 2003 — it beat principal rival Hamilton (Canada) at a meeting of the Commonwealth Games Federation general assembly in Montego Bay in Jamaica.

But Shanghai had begun moving on the expo at least three years before it was awarded the event. In May 1999,the Shanghai municipal government began scouting for a theme study for the first expo in a developing country,declaring theme selection and presentation as a priority. Pudong had been developed with great care ever since Deng Xiaoping,the man behind the opening up of China,told Shanghai leaders that they needed to develop the land across the Huangpu. “Shanghai is our trump card.”

In Shanghai Pudong Miracle: A case study of China’s fast-track economy,Zhao Qizheng and Shao Yudong (Qizheng was Shanghai vice-mayor and the first governor of the Pudong New Area) recall “making a beautiful dress out of a piece of high quality material.” “One has to carefully design it before cutting. If you are in too much of a rush,you might make a mistake. Then even if you sew several gold buttons on it,it will be of no help… That is what we bore in mind when we set out to develop Pudong. We sat down and mapped out the plan with great care.”

But just Pudong alone wouldn’t have worked for the expo. The pavilions were to be located on both banks of the Huangpu,spread over 5.28 sq km — 3.93 sq km in Pudong and 1.35 sq km in Puxi. The entire city infrastructure needed an upgrade.

So this is what they did:

From one runway and one terminal,the Hongqiao International Airport transformed into two runways and two terminals,equipped to handle 30 million passengers every year.

The Pudong International Airport second phase project went for two terminals and three runways with an annual capacity of 60 million passengers.

Three railways stations — Hongqiao,Shanghai,Shanghai South — formed a circular railway network.

Nine buildings of the International Passenger Transport Centre of Shanghai Port had their roofs sealed in 2007. The centre was completed in 2008,significantly raising the passenger capacity.

The north and south long-distance bus terminals were upgraded,the number of passageways jumping from six to nine,and lanes from 14 to 54.

Integration of the Yangtze river delta road network was promoted and linking of regional expressways accelerated. Ten expressways connected to the delta were to get 60 lanes.

The underground rail transit network was reworked to take pressure off ground transport with 11 transit lines,280 stops and daily traffic of over 5 million commuters.

From 2005,Shanghai began building special bus lanes,targeting 300 km by 2010. There were a total of 41 expo lines — 17 for transport hubs,nine for hotels,nine for suburbs and six for university campuses.

Water transport lines were to absorb 10 per cent of the visitor flow. Within the site,three water gates — two in Pudong and one in Puxi — connected the banks of the Huangpu. Shuttles were to facilitate entry and exits of visitors.

Cross-river transport was planned with buses using tunnels,ferries and a dedicated expo metro line.

Elevated pedestrian walkways extended in all directions,providing a panoramic view of the expo site.

This transport upgrade,expo organisers maintained,was crucial not just for the success of the event but the future growth of Shanghai. The theme development,they pointed out,had begun with three questions: What kind of a city makes life better? What kind of life makes cities better? What kind of urban development makes the earth a better home?

Shanghai was trying to answer these. Perhaps Delhi and other cities in India could join in.

rakesh.sinha@expressindia.com