CONSTRUCTION of Guangming Science Town officially began in Guangming District on Friday, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

Shenzhen Party chief Wang Weizhong, Mayor Chen Rugui and other top officials attended the groundbreaking ceremony.

The science town is an important measure taken by the Guangdong provincial Party committee and the Guangdong government in implementing the development planning of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

It is also a strategic decision made by the Shenzhen government to comprehensively enhance the city’s scientific and technological innovation, especially its capacity for original innovation.

The total planned area of Guangming Science Town is 99 square kilometers. The startup area covers 47,000 square meters with a floor area of 231,000 square meters.

The town will include two scientific facility platforms, one for brain analysis and brain simulation and the other for synthetic biology research. There will also be a comprehensive service center and apartments for experts. The project will be constructed by Tongji Architectural Design (Group) Co. Ltd.

Since it was announced last April that the project would be built in Guangming District, the district has made every effort to promote the planning and construction of the science town and completed the preliminary work of the building projects for the first batch of large-scale scientific facilities in only six months.

Meanwhile, the construction of the supporting areas of Guangming Science Town is also progressing steadily. The construction of Sun Yat-sen University Shenzhen Campus, Guangming Cloud Valley and Guangming Town has begun. The first phase of the Seventh Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University has also been put into operation. Construction of secondary schools and primary schools affiliated with Sun Yat-sen University and talent housing in the area will begin soon.

Guangming Science Town is positioned as a comprehensive national science center and will strive to become a technology and innovation support center for the Greater Bay Area.

It is expected that a basic framework system for the construction of Guangming Science Town will be formed by 2020. The town will build up its core functions as a world-class science town by 2025 and become a highly internationalized core supporting area for a comprehensive national science center by 2035. (Zhang Yu)