Aviation park is built next to flight test centre, major aircraft manufacturer and air base
China wants aerospace firms from around the world to establish businesses at its new Xian Aviation Technology Park, which is being built on the outskirts of the central Chinese city of Xian.
Xian has been earmarked by the central government to be the "Toulouse or Seattle" of China, says Diana Young, chief executive of Mil-Com, a Singapore-based aviation engineering and training firm that is helping to promote the park.
The Xian Aviation Technology Park is located on 10km2 (3.86 miles2) of land near the China Flight Test Establishment, a major flight-test centre, is next to Xian Aircraft, one of China's major aircraft manufacturers, and adjacent to an air base that has two 3,400m (11,150ft) runways, one of which is being transferred to the Xian Aviation Technology Park for commercial use, says Young.
Mil-Com has established a joint venture company with the Xian Aviation Technology Park committee to manage and promote the park over the next 20 years, says Young, who has already begun marketing it to potential tenants.
Sections of the site have been set aside for light and heavy industrial, residential, offices and retail.
Roads leading to the park have been completed, plots of land are available for commercial or industrial development and a developer for the residential district is being appointed in the "next few months". Funding for the park's development has so far largely come from China's central government and the Shaanxi provincial government, says Young.
Mil-Com has a technical training college in the north-east Chinese coastal city of Tianjin set to open in September and has said it wants to have three such centres in China.
It already has plans for construction of a 20-storey building at the Xian Aviation Technology Park that will house its businesses, including a training centre.
Young says Mil-Com's Xian centre should prosper because the other businesses moving into the park will need to train staff. Mil-Com plans to offer courses in Xian in conjunction with Boeing subsidiaries Alteon Training and aeronautical data specialist Jeppesen, she adds.
LEITHEN FRANCIS / SINGAPORE
Source: Flight International
