A foundation stone laying ceremony for the construction of the permanent headquarters building of the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) was held on Saturday in Shanghai.
The building is expected to become a landmark building along Huangpu River.
The ceremony took place in the World Expo Park in the heart of the city, which is a global financial hub. The plan is to build a 30-floor building on a 31-acre parcel of land with a capacity of 2,500 people.
"We are extremely grateful to Shanghai, and the NDB is proud to call Shanghai its home. We have been received with great warmth and enjoyed enormous support from the Shanghai Government at each our step," said K.V. Kamath, the NDB President.
"China's and Shanghai's experiences and knowledge will contribute enormously to the rest of the world. And there could be useful learnings from other countries for China as well," said Kamath.
As an alternative to the World Bank,The New Development Bank was established in 2014 by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa to finance infrastructure and sustainable development projects both within BRICS and other emerging economies. The bank formally opened on July 21, 2015 in Shanghai.
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The architectural design of the bank's headquarters is aimed to be environmentally friendly, human and function-oriented, and at the same time ensure low maintenance costs.
A significant part of the buildings' roofs will be used for greening to reduce the influence of the building on the environment, not only returning an ecological green space to nature but also improving thermal insulation performance, the Global Times reported.
The building will be equipped with a modern rainwater recycling system to collect rainwater and use treated rainwater for outdoor plant irrigation, road washing and parking washing as well as other uses without outdoor tap water consumption.
The building is expected to be in operation in four years' time.