WHEN, as the new millennium was about to dawn, Liverpool signed a twin-city agreement with China’s biggest city, Shanghai, it was supposed to trigger an east-west bonanza for Merseyside.
Getting a foot in the bamboo door was hailed as a coup for Liverpool, giving the city a leg up, pole position in the race for investment and jobs from China.
As Bullseye king Jim Bowen might have said … 'Let’s look at what Liverpool could have won'
To consolidate the links with the city’s new and very best friends, we spent a small fortune on being present at Shanghai’s World Expo, though to be honest we were a bit off the beaten track.
'Shanghai Tower'There was talk of Shanghai Tower, set to be Liverpool’s tallest waterfront skyscraper. Then came the prospect of an International Trade Centre (a posh word for a distribution depot) aimed at attracting an army of Chinese business folk to the opposite banks of the Mersey. Pudong it isn’t, Wirral it is.
We wax lyrical about Liverpool Waters and Wirral Waters with promises of... well, let’s not even go there.
Has there even been a slow boat from China, let alone a fast fleet from the Far East dropping anchor in the Mersey?
So what happens. Our upstart friends from the land of cobbled streets, Manchester, do a dream deal with the Chinese with a promise of 16,000 jobs.
Next to council-owned Manchester Airport, the massive development will be known as Airport City.
That’s the one-time aerodrome, incidentally, that as Ringway, was suited only for the landing of the odd bi-plane when Liverpool was kingpin airport of the north.
But good luck to them. The Manchester coup was announced in Beijing by Chancellor George Osborne whose Tatton constituency neighbours Manchester Airport.
Liverpool Waters, owned by Manchester-based Peel, has more than enough land to accommodate everything China can chuck our way. We are even prepared to throw in the city's World Heritage Status towel to attract jobs.
As Bullseye king Jim Bowen might have said … “Let’s look at what Liverpool could have won: a project worth £800m, the respected Beijing Construction Engineering Group as a joint venture partner, 16,000 new jobs, a development spanning five million sq feet (ie five times bigger than Liverpool ONE) over the next few years that will see office blocks, logistics hubs, hotels and warehouses occupied by global companies. The prospect of direct flights between the North West and Asia."
This is what Xing Yan, managing director of the Beijing construction group, said: “To be included in such an interesting and unique development is a real honour. To be part of a project of this size and scale, working alongside other such highly regarded organisations, will be an exciting, challenging and rewarding opportunity, which we look forward to beginning.
“We see our involvement in Airport City as an extension of the memorandum of understanding between China and the UK, where we have been looking to further explore joint infrastructure opportunities for some time.”
Osborne’s announcement was the curtain raiser at the Far East launch of the Manchester-China Forum, aimed at boosting trade links between Manchester and China.
It will be interesting to learn exactly how much Chinese business has been attracted to Liverpool in recent years. The question has been asked and the reply is awaited.
