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Shanty town dwellers to move into new homes before lunar New Year

By Nie Ligao (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-12-25 11:24

Li Chunming's family and another 1,444 households in the city of Qiqihar, in northeast China's Helongjiang province, will soon move into new apartments in a community called Xinhe, it was announced Tuesday. The community has been built on the site of a shabby and crowded shanty town where they lived before.

Zhang Liang (L), assistant director of Qiqihar’s Construction Bureau, introduces the city’s program of relocating shanty town inhabitants into the newly-built residential community of Xinhe, in Qiqihar, northeast China's Helongjiang province, December 23, 2008. [Chinadaily.com.cn]

They will move in before the Chinese lunar New Year, which falls on January 25, 2009. Unlike the shanty towns they are used to, their new homes will be installed with tap water and central heating systems.

New buildings are seen in this photo taken on Tuesday, December 23, 2008. This is a new community called Xinhe built by the government of Qiqihar, in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province for previous shanty town dwellers. [chinadaily.com.cn]

Xinhe community, along with five other residential communities, was built by the local government especially for previous shanty town dwellers. With a total area of 1.11 million square meters, the six communities are designed to accommodate 13,000 families.

Li Chunming, among the first to move out of the shanty town, was still doubtful of his good luck. He said it felt like "a sweet dream coming true finally."

Some shanties are seen in this photo taken in northeast China's Qiqihar city on Tuesday, December 23, 2008. The local government vowed to demolish these shabby houses within four or five years. [CRI]

Zhang Guihai, vice mayor of the city, told reporters Monday that inhabitants who have property ownership certificates are entitled to new homes the same size as the shacks they previously owned, free of charge. Even dwellers living in unapproved buildings can get a free apartment, equal to half the floor space of their shanty. They can also add extra space at a discounted price. The poor and the disabled are entitled to a free apartment with a minimum area of 40 square meters, even if the size of their shanties were less than that, according to Zhang.

Residence area per family has reached 55 square meters for previous shanty town dwellers, up from 22 square meters in 2003, according to official figures.

There were many shanty towns in the industrial city of Qiqihar, due to a large number of workers being laid off after its state-owned enterprises went bankrupt one after another over the past decade.

With the local economy recovering and the nation embarking on an effort to revitalize China’s Northeast, the city now has enough fiscal revenue to demolish shanty towns and build new homes for the poor.

"The new apartments are financed by bank loans, government revenues through selling land use rights, government subsidies, investment from property developers and donations," Zhang said. "In 2008, the program was granted a government subsidy of more than 20.44 million yuan (US$3 million),” he said.

Zhang Liang, assistant director of Qiqihar’s Construction Bureau, said over one billion yuan (US$147 million) has been spent on the project this year.

There are still 286,000 people living in shanty towns covering an area of 5.94 million square meters, according to local government figures. Another 10 billion yuan (US$1.47 billion) will be needed to relocate all of these people, said Zhang. "It's a big challenge for the local government," he added.

Apart from dismantling shanty towns and building new homes in the urban area, Qiqihar has also launched programs to improve living conditions in its rural area. By early 2009, 46,000 households of farmers will bid farewell to their thatched cottages.