Our business strategy in mainland China is to become an integral component of the urban centres in which we operate. By being a part of the community we can bring influence and leadership in sustainable best practice and achieve long-term viability as a successful rail operator.
With consultancy contracts our major form of business to date, we foster an education process and bring international practices to the front line of operations. In Shanghai, where we act as project management consultant, we introduced a community engagement exercise to gauge the effects of the rail's operations on the high technology fabrication plants located along the rail tracks. With community stakeholders involved at the early stages of building, we successfully avoided the long-term negative impacts on these businesses and the communities adjacent to the rail through a small change in track design.
In 2005, contracts were signed for rail projects in Beijing and Shenzhen, the first of our major development and operational commitments. Exploring a mutual understanding is necessary to progress our commitment with stakeholder engagement at the forefront of our planning. In Shenzhen, for example, where we have introduced the rail+property business model, our approach to urban planning requires extensive Central Government and provincial department co-operation and education on environmental stewardship, transport configuration, urban design and eco-efficiency. These exercises are the forerunners to acceptance of our proposed pedestrianised communities linked through a "green" rail network. This process is being closely monitored by other mainland cities as a model for their own urban planning and development of mass transit systems.
We are interested in learning from multinationals already established in the PRC on day to day operational issues of which we are at the threshold of commencing. In 2006 we plan further workshops and company to company dialogue to learn about how such issues as supply chain management, employment practices, transparency, governance and enforcement are productively managed within mainland China.
