Official affirms county's need for poverty aid

Deputy mayor of Hailun, Heilongjiang province, justified the county's application to the State government for poverty alleviation on Friday, saying it goes with the real situation in Hailun and was approved by the provincial authorities.

The county was under fire after a Xinhua News Agency report disclosed the "poverty-stricken county's" daily use of an extravagant office building.

At a news conference held in Harbin on Friday, Hailun Deputy Mayor Zhang Daojie said when the county first applied in 2010, there were some 170,000 people living in poverty with an annual income of less than 1,300 yuan ($214) per capita.

Hailun was enlisted as a key county for poverty alleviation work in 2012.

The significant size of its population living in poverty was a major consideration in adding the county to the list.

The total population of Hailun is 800,000. Statistics from the Hailun government show that, in 2010, the average annual net income for farmers was 6,695 yuan.

According to the Xinhua report, the newly completed office building of the county government cost nearly 100 million yuan.

The building covers about 20,000 square meters and contains 820 office rooms.

In a notification published by the central government in September, new government office buildings were banned and over-standard office had to be reorganized.

Zhang said more departments will move into the office building.

"There have been 65 departments working in the new building and other departments, including the water authority, the audit office and the food and drug administration, will move into the building in order to realize concentrated working," he said.

"The office space conforms with the regulations and the old offices will be auctioned, and the income will be used to improve the impoverished people's livelihood," he said.

Zhang also reported on the county's use of its poverty alleviation funds.

Since 2011, 525.5 million yuan was put into 70 poverty-relief projects, without any appropriation.

He said the government plans to rid its title as a poverty-stricken county by 2015.