Chinese organizers say they will install 6,150 toilets for visitors during the Shanghai World Expo in 2010.

There will be 4,500 fixed loos and 1,650 mobile ones, said an official with the bureau for coordination of Shanghai World Expo Affairs, at the first exhibitors conference for the six-month long event.

Some 70 million people are expected to visit the Shanghai World Expo, scheduled to run from May 1 to Oct. 31, 2010. About 400,000 people will visit the expo each day, with the number rising to 800,000 at peak times, according to the official.

250 people from more than 120 countries, regions and international organizations attended the China Shanghai World Expo 2010 conference, which opened on Wednesday.

Participants at the two-day conference were briefed about preparations for the Shanghai World Expo and on preferential policies to attract more exhibitors -- include a free exhibition hall for each developing country.

Foreign nationals who work at the Shanghai World Expo for its duration will be exempt from income tax. Exhibitors will be exempt from tariffs, value-added import tax and consumption tax on handicrafts and foodstuffs.

The Bureau of International Expositions (BIE) will also be exempt from income tax and will be entitled to two percent of ticket revenues.

Hua Junduo, the government's representative-in-chief for the Shanghai World Expo, said the plans reflected the sincerity of the government and would make it easier for other countries and international organizations to enter the Chinese market via the expo.

Shanghai World Expo organizers said they would provide developed nations and international organizations with more than five hundred 500 sq meter zones in which they can design and build exhibition booths.

The expo organizer will build 324-sq-m halls in which developing countries can stage exhibitions. Some developing nations may be able to get an extra hall free of charge.

Halls will be rented at rates varying from 3,900 to 4,100 yuan per sq m. The organizers said they had also been working on detailed guidelines regarding intellectual property protection during the expo.

Covering an area of 5.28 square kilometers, the theme of the Shanghai World Expo is "Better City, Better Life". So far, 40 percent of the 5.28-sq-km of land needed for the expo has been vacated, and 18,000 households displaced.

To make way for the expo, 272 enterprises and institutions will also have to be relocated. 268 of them have already signed relocation agreements.

Construction of infrastructure and support facilities at the Shanghai World Expo Park began in August. The organizers said work on mascot designs, and construction of an expo village and two of the five halls inside the park, will start next year.

China plans to invite delegations from more than 200 countries, regions or organizations to the event, making it the largest ever.

A total of 94 countries, regions and international organizations have already signaled their intention to attend the expo.

Source: Xinhua