THE international design competition for a forest sports park of the feature town in Guangming was officially initiated Thursday.

Interested design companies can register before April 16. The organizer will shortlist four candidates and two alternative candidates for the designs through qualification reviews. The design contest will start May 8 after the preliminary selection.

The winning design companies will get 2.2 million yuan (US$345,605) in awards from the organizer, Guangming New Area Government, which will release the results July 12.

The Guangming feature town is located in the eastern part of the new area. A key project for Shenzhen in 2018, it covers an area of 11.4 square kilometers and features urban agriculture, leisure tourism, cultural experiences and sports, and is backed by the rich natural resources of Guangming.

The feature town covers five functional areas, namely modern agriculture, a new-generation theme park, an ecology town, a sports park and other facilities, which are linked by a south-north greenway.

The sports park is located in the south of the feature town, bordering Guangming Reservoir and Guangmingcheng High-Speed Rail.

The sports park covers 6 square kilometers, accounting for half of the total area of the feature town.

It has Biyan Reservoir at its core and is surrounded by a litchi forest. The Guangdong No. 5 Provincial Greenway runs through the area and connects the Guangming central region with Xincheng Park in the west.

For more details, interested design companies can check out www.szdesigncenter.org or contact the organizer at competition@ehow.net.cn.

(Han Ximin)