HONG Kong MTR has officially opened its first shopping centre in mainland China. Ginza Shopping Mall stands above Dongzhimen metro station in a prosperous area of Beijing, and will be operated using the ’rail-plus-property’ model which MTR says has proved highly successful in maximising the value of inner-urban sites around stations in Hong Kong. ’The concept of creating convenient and attractive commercial developments adjacent to stations is now being seen as critical in the next phase of improving railways’, said MTR’s Jeremy Long. ’MTR, as both a railway operator and a developer, has considerable expertise in the design, development and management of such schemes’. n

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