A MOUNTAIN-TOP park with a 360-degree panorama outlook is expected to be built within the next few years in a central area of the city, the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported.

The park will be located on the top of a mountain called Danaoke Mountain in the area between Meilin and Longhua, north Shenzhen. The mountain sits on the central axis that spans from the north to the south.

According to the Longhua administration of the city’s urban planning, land and resources commission, a fortnight application process in which landscape design companies from all around the world competed for a chance to design the mountain-top panorama outlook had just wrapped up, with 38 companies submitting applications.

Shenzhen is determined to build a glamorous mountain-top park, so it decided to attract the world’s top designers with lucrative prizes. The first-prize winner will be awarded 3 million yuan (US$441,100) and the second-place design firm will receive 1 million yuan.

Additionally, the final five firms that make it into the final round of the competition will be awarded 500,000 yuan for their entries. The final design plan will be announced to the public Sept. 25.

“Through the design competition, we aim to select the design with the highest standards and most global perspective for the mountain-top park,” said an official from the administration.

It is expected that the park will become a new leisure spot for Shenzhen residents as well as tourists. In good weather, visitors can enjoy views of the city as far as Bao’an and Longgang districts.

A public park will be built at the foot of the mountain as an entrance to the mountain-top park.

According to the plans, there will also be an ecological corridor that crosses two expressways to link several of the mountains in the Meilin area, including Meilin Mountain, Yinhu Mountain, Yangtai Mountain and Tanglang Mountain.

The corridor will be used as a passage for wild animals so they can move between the mountains without crossing human areas. It is hoped that the passage will help protect the city’s biological diversity.

This May, residents spotted wild leopards several times on Tanglang Mountain. The mountain is in the downtown area, which suggests that Shenzhen has a good enough ecological environment for wild species to inhabit.

(Zhang Qian)