Renewal coming to Urumqi shanties
Source: Xinhua |
July 12, 2010, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
EXCAVATORS move back and forth, demolishing one of Urumqi's shanty towns, which used to house 200,000 people.
Ablikim Mamet is negotiating with community workers on a contract for compensation for the demolition of his house in the Heijiashan area, a district of Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
Most of the homes in Heijiashan, one of the several shanty towns in Urumqi, had no utilities, gas or heating, and the area was considered a hotbed of poverty and crime.
Heijiashan was hit hard by riots in Urumqi on July 5 last year that left 197 people dead and more than 1,600 injured.
After Premier Wen Jiabao said this year that transformation of shanty towns was vital for the improvement of people's livelihoods, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development ordered local governments to reform shanty towns.
Urumqi plans to allocate 300 billion yuan (US$44 billion) in five years to complete the project, part of which covered more than 1,500 households in Ablikim's neighborhood.
Xie Min, deputy director of the office for Urumqi's slum renewal, said most of the houses in Urumqi's shanty towns had been used for more than four decades.
Xie said the new residential buildings, coming up in place of shanty towns, will meet quake-resistant standards and will have complete infrastructure settings and public facilities such as schools, kindergartens and clinics.
"Management of the floating population and grassroots self-governance will also be strengthened," he said. Residents who have their houses demolished will receive new houses of the same floor areas, or money equal to housing prices of the same region, he added.
For those whose houses were unlicensed due to historical reasons, the owners will be allocated new houses with 70 percent of the floor area or 70 percent of the house cost.
Pan Zhiping, director of the Central Asia Research Institute of Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences, said, "The transformation of shanty towns is a top priority for safeguarding social stability."
He suggested taking lessons from Singapore and ensuring that "each community has residents from different ethnic groups."
Mamet Niyaz lives with his family of nine in a 157-square-meter bungalow in a shanty town of Urumqi's Shayibake district. The family of three generations, which moved here in 1983, also faces demolition.
Mamet can replace his bungalow with three apartments, each having kitchen, washroom and living and bedrooms. His three sons will live separately in the same community and each of them will receive property certificates after moving in.
"I'm accustomed to nine family members living together, but now we have to move into a tall building and live separately," he said.
Ablikim Mamet is negotiating with community workers on a contract for compensation for the demolition of his house in the Heijiashan area, a district of Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
Most of the homes in Heijiashan, one of the several shanty towns in Urumqi, had no utilities, gas or heating, and the area was considered a hotbed of poverty and crime.
Heijiashan was hit hard by riots in Urumqi on July 5 last year that left 197 people dead and more than 1,600 injured.
After Premier Wen Jiabao said this year that transformation of shanty towns was vital for the improvement of people's livelihoods, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development ordered local governments to reform shanty towns.
Urumqi plans to allocate 300 billion yuan (US$44 billion) in five years to complete the project, part of which covered more than 1,500 households in Ablikim's neighborhood.
Xie Min, deputy director of the office for Urumqi's slum renewal, said most of the houses in Urumqi's shanty towns had been used for more than four decades.
Xie said the new residential buildings, coming up in place of shanty towns, will meet quake-resistant standards and will have complete infrastructure settings and public facilities such as schools, kindergartens and clinics.
"Management of the floating population and grassroots self-governance will also be strengthened," he said. Residents who have their houses demolished will receive new houses of the same floor areas, or money equal to housing prices of the same region, he added.
For those whose houses were unlicensed due to historical reasons, the owners will be allocated new houses with 70 percent of the floor area or 70 percent of the house cost.
Pan Zhiping, director of the Central Asia Research Institute of Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences, said, "The transformation of shanty towns is a top priority for safeguarding social stability."
He suggested taking lessons from Singapore and ensuring that "each community has residents from different ethnic groups."
Mamet Niyaz lives with his family of nine in a 157-square-meter bungalow in a shanty town of Urumqi's Shayibake district. The family of three generations, which moved here in 1983, also faces demolition.
Mamet can replace his bungalow with three apartments, each having kitchen, washroom and living and bedrooms. His three sons will live separately in the same community and each of them will receive property certificates after moving in.
"I'm accustomed to nine family members living together, but now we have to move into a tall building and live separately," he said.
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