(Yicai Global) Nov. 20 -- Authorities in Shanghai have determined the scope of industries considered the main focus for Lingang New City, where Tesla plans to build its first overseas factory, as they integrate the developing region into the Yangtze River Delta Economic Zone.

Important sectors will include biopharmaceuticals, integrated circuits, connected vehicles, aviation, the industrial internet and the marine sector, state-backed news site The Paper reported yesterday, citing speakers at a press briefing. The region will also work with Zhoushan prefecture, Mount Putuo and the Dongjia Islands to form trans-regional tour routes based on marine culture and food.

Lingang is situated at the intersection of China's two strategic development zones, the Yangtze River Delta and the Silk Road Economic Belt, said Chen Jie, secretary of the Party committee of Shanghai Lingang Area Development Administration. This will help Shanghai take full advantage of the area, he added.

Construction of the city, which is based in Shanghai's Pudong New Area at the tip of the peninsula between the Yangtze and Qiantang rivers near Hangzhou Bay, began in 2003 and is scheduled for completion in 2020. The city has already begun to bring in companies and has secured billions in investment from US electric carmaker Tesla.

The Yangtze River Delta began in the early 1980s, when it was mostly just a geographical concept. It has since expanded to include 26 cities, from nine originally, as it looks to form a city cluster than can compete with others around the world, including other mainland city groupings like the Pearl River Delta and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Editor: James Boynton