This coastal metropolis, following the example of cities such as New York, Tokyo and Moscow, is planning to build an underground facilities network.

The underground urban network, with the People's Square as its core, would be composed of four sub-centres and eight key zones, according to Shu Yu, professor of Tongji University and deputy director of the Shanghai Urban Underground Space Study and Development Centre.

Limited by the East China Sea in the east, Shanghai intends to expand deeper vertically, with the prospect that more than 300 kilometres of metro lines will be completed underground by 2010.

"Shanghai then will rank among the top 10 cities in the world with advanced underground facilities like New York, Paris, London, Tokyo and Moscow," Shu said.

One major symbol as an advanced city in terms of underground space utilization is the length of underground metro and its capacity to carry at least 40 per cent of the passengers in the city, Shu explained.

"The underground space development is a must option for Shanghai so as to achieve sustainable development and save more ground space for other purposes," said Shu.

The People's Square is the largest transportation hub in the city, with rail lines crisscrossing one another.

The sub-centres and key zones all have or are to have rail lines to go through.

As planned, in 2010, the city's rail lines will be extended to 500 kilometres. And in 2005, Shanghai will have 200 kilometres of metro lines in operation, half of which will run underground.

Shanghai was one of the earliest cities to exploit underground space, when in 1862 it laid pipes and lines underground.

By now, Shanghai has 8 million square metres of construction area underground. And by 2010, the city will exploit over 10 million square metres of underground space.

Pathways, storages, parking lots, commercial and entertainment facilities and other anti-disaster facilities will be constructed underground.

"We have presented the concept plan to the municipal government for approval and the next step is to develop specific plans and designs," Shu said.

Source: China Daily