Canadian officials are hopeful their latest foray into China`s construction sector will result in increased lumber trade between the nations.
Chinese builders of three public buildings in a major Shanghai affordable-housing project will use Canadian lumber in the wood-frame construction of the structures being built under a 2009 agreement between Canada and China. "The three buildings will be the most frequently used structures in the entire community," Pat Bell, British Columbia`s Minister of Forests, Mines and Lands said in a news release. "This will allow us to extend awareness of wood`s many benefits beyond developers and government officials to an even broader audience - the Chinese families who wil make the community of Sanlin their home."
Sunlin is the name of the housing project, which officials said is destined to become the largest affordable community in Shanghai, a city of almost 20 million people. "Under their affordable housing program, China plans to build an additional six million affordable housing units by the end of 2011," federal Minister of Natural Resources Christian Paradis said.
Bell and Paradis are leading a 38-member trade delegation that includes executives from almost all of Canada`s top lumber producers in an attempt to bolster the already growing trade in lumber between the countries. On Saturday, they toured the building sites where a 6,195-square-metre administration building and a 3,360-square-metre cultural facility, which will be hybrid structures with one-storey concrete bases topped with three storeys of wood-framed construction.
The third building, a 10,700-square-metre service building will be concrete, but with wood-framed interior walls.
Shanghai is the group`s first stop on a 10-day trade mission to China.
Source: http://www.vancouversun.com |
