Beijing's Universal Studios theme park construction going smoothly

The first construction phase of the Universal Studios theme park in Beijing is going smoothly, the contractor announced during a media briefing on Wednesday.

According to the contractor, Beijing Construction Engineering Group Co Ltd, the first phase of the project mainly includes clearing, excavating, and backfilling a 4-square-kilometer site in Tongzhou district in suburban Beijing. An estimated 2.5 million cubic meters of miscellaneous fill from the site needs to be processed and recycled.

"By now, we have finished the transformation of 1.8 million cubic meters of the fill, which is equivalent to saving over 17.33 hectares of land resources with a depth of 10 meters. The recycling rate of the miscellaneous fill is as high as 97 percent," said Tan Chenghai, the project manager.

"Currently, the daily processing capacity of the pretreatment system of our production line can reach 19,000 cubic meters, and that of our construction waste disposal line is 2,000 cubic meters," Tan said.

The Wall Street Journal, citing a source familiar with the project, reported investment in the Universal Studios theme park in Beijing will increase from the original $3.26 billion to $6.5 billion, surpassing the investment in Shanghai Disneyland, which was $5.5 billion, to become the theme park attracting the highest volume of money inflow.

According to the report, the added investment will be applied to enlarging retail and entertainment space and improving planned park projects, as well as developing new land. The themes at the park now include Transformers, Minions, Kung Fu Panda, Harry Potter, Water World, Back to the Jurassic Period, and Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Previously, Universal Studios planned to attract 7 million visitors to the theme park in Beijing during its first year, and now, it is anticipating 10 million, The Wall Street Journal reported.

According to the report from market research firm Mintel, sales revenue of China's theme parks totaled $6.21 billion, surging 27 percent on a year-on-year basis. It is estimated that the figure will continue to rise with an annual compound growth rate of 17.7 percent in the next five years. Sales revenue will reach $14 billion by 2022.

Another report released by market research company Euromonitor International estimated the sales revenue of theme parks in China will reach $12 billion, overtaking that of the United States, which is forecast to be $9 billion.