(Yicai Global) June 10 -- Construction of the Yangtze River Delta International Film & TV Center officially started in Shanghai today. The project, which has overall investment of nearly CNY10 billion (USD1.4 billion) and will become a key base for digital content production on completion, will go into operation in 2023.

The project, invested in and developed by Hangzhou Dace Investment, the parent of listed film and television drama maker Zhejiang Group, aims to become a film and TV content production sector platform in the internet era and form and operate a complete industrial chain consisting of creativity, creation, production, distribution, international cooperation and an industrial ecology, Shanghai Observer reported.

Once up and running, the project, which will cover 5 hectares in the eastern Chinese megacity’s southwestern Songjiang district, is expected to lure more than 100 digital content production projects such as TV series, variety shows, advertisements and short videos, and house 200 to 300 firms in emerging sectors including internet, smart technology and web celebrity e-commerce marketing to settle there each year.

The center will also serve as a branch venue of major cultural events like the Shanghai Television Festival and Shanghai International Film Festival.

The high-tech film and TV studio area, the project's first phase whose construction began today, is set conclude and begin trials by the end of 2021, with formal operations slated for 2022's first half. Construction of the project's second and third phase, whose implementation is scheduled for this year's end, will begin next year. They will be operational in 2023.

Editor: Ben Armour