Shanghai's municipal government has revealed a draft blueprint for a new tourist resort where Disney's theme park would be built, said a spokesman with the city's urban planning and land resource administrative bureau on Wednesday.

The park, expected to start full-scale construction in the first half of this year, would be built in a 7 square-km area that the city has designated as an international tourist destination, said the spokesman.

The first phase of the project covers 3.9 square km, which includes a theme park, a lake, hotels, car parks, commercial centers and commuter stations, according to the plan, which was posted online to seek public opinion.

Two metro lines will be extended into the park, according to the plan.

The Disneyland project's first phase will cost 24.5 billion yuan ($3.7 billion), said Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng on Sunday while attending the ongoing parliamentary session in Beijing.

The long-awaited theme park project was launched in November last year, when state-owned Shanghai Shendi Group inked a deal with Walt Disney Co. to build the facility.

The park, which is expected to open by 2015, will be the first Disneyland theme park on the Chinese mainland and sixth in the world. It would be the U.S. entertainment giant's third theme park in Asia, after Tokyo and Hong Kong.

(Xinhua News Agency March 9, 2011)