Nanjing Road will relive Shanghai's former glory

BEIJING, Feb. 25 -- A three-year project to renovate Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street to its former glory of the 1930s is progressing well, the street's management organization said yesterday.

The local government will renovate 40 commercial buildings into architecture styles prevalent in Shanghai back in the 1930s. The renovated buildings will account for 82 percent of all buildings along the street, Shanghai Morning Post reported today.

The government has finished 56 percent of the renovation work. It will be completed before 2010, the report added.

The city government will also renovate 10 streets, including Liuhe Road and Guizhou Road, which intersect with Nanjing Road. The reconstruction of the roads are also expected be completed before 2010, the report said.

Meanwhile, the number of commercial billboards on the city's landmark street will be reduced 20 percent to about 9,500 square meters in three years, the report said.

Planners will also lay out standard styles and colors of public facilities, including telephone booths, instruction signs and garbage bins, the report said.

(Source: Shanghai Daily)