Official defends cheap homes for government workers

By Jane Chen | May 24, 2010, Monday |

Online Edition

A NORTHWEST China county's officials have defended the local government's introduction of a budget-home program for its government workers.

"All the beneficiaries are eligible for the program as they are rated as low-income people," unnamed government officials told Xinhua news agency.

Most of the county's government workers make a monthly income of around 2,000 yuan (US$293), lower than the county's average, they added, without specifying the county's standard for low-income families.

Only 22 of the first 610 beneficiaries for the cheap housing are non-government workers, according to a list of names.

Government workers are usually considered well paid with benefits in housing, medical insurance and a pension.

The government classified the program as budget homes to take advantage of state policies to cut building costs and lower the charges for buyers, according to Chen Anping, director of Meixian County Urban Construction Commission.

The budget-home program, the biggest housing complex in the county, is designed with 1,548 homes in 39 buildings covering 208 mu, according to the commission.

The biggest home is 137 square meters, compared with the cap of 60 square meters according to the State Council's rule.

Meanwhile in Rizhao City of east China's Shandong Province, the local government bought 3,500 apartments in the prime downtown area and sold them to government workers at 3,800 yuan per square meter, compared with 6,000-yuan price tags for nearby housing.

City officials have defended the housing program, saying many government workers do have housing difficulties and need help.

There are thousands of government workers in the city but only 1,336 apartments are available in the government's existing housing complex for the workers, the city's spokesperson Sun Zhengwu and the administrative affairs bureau's director Wang Zhongmin told today's Legal Daily.

The newspaper's research indicated the grassroots government workers make a monthly income of 2,600 yuan, more than double the city's average of 1,102 yuan.

There are 73,600 people in Rizhao rated as low-income residents who are entitled to a monthly government subsidy of 276 yuan.

Nation

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Official defends cheap homes for government workers

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