REDEVELOPED riverside areas in downtown Shanghai will open to the public by the end of the year, officials said yesterday.

The public areas along a 10-kilometer stretch, covering more than 700,000 square meters, in Pudong, Yangpu, Xuhui, Hongkou and Huangpu districts will include parks, sports venues, art galleries as well as preserved historic buildings along Huangpu River.

Furthermore by the end of 2017, a total of 45 kilometers of uninterrupted pedestrian paths — half in Puxi and half in Pudong — will run between Yangpu Bridge and Xupu Bridge, said Gu Jinshan, director of Shanghai’s Housing and Urban-Rural Development Administration.