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Home » Opinion » Chinese Views

Millions of rundown houses will be bulldozed or renovated

By Zhu Shaobin | September 16, 2013, Monday | Print Edition

Squat, shabby houses built over half a century ago still contain more than 100 households in the Alley 14 neighborhood in the center of Chengdu, capital of southwest China’s Sichuan Province.

Sewage and garbage in the narrow lanes is a constant and foul eyesore. Residents, mostly elderly and laid-off workers, face a daily struggle, from sharing the single public toilet in the area to living in cramped quarters. The neighborhood is a complete mismatch to the tall modern buildings nearby.

“My original house with two rooms was built here before New China was founded,” said resident Shi Ziqing, who is in her 60s. Over the years, the original thatch roof was replaced by shingles, asphalt, asbestos and plastic to prevent leaks.

Shi’s family recently moved to an adjacent house, but the new dwelling is hardly any better.

Many other Chinese cities contain similar rundown, barely habitable neighborhoods. The country has begun work in earnest to do something about this urban housing problem.

In Chengdu, Shi’s family and their neighbors in Alley 14 are feeling the full force of this drive. Under a government-led renovation plan, Alley 14 will disappear in two or three years, and that’s not the only Chengdu neighborhood on the list for demolition or renovation.

Work on Caojia Alley, also a run-down section of the city center, was officially launched in July. Given a range of resettlement packages, residents are temporarily living elsewhere as they wait to return to renovated Caojia Alley, wait for resettlement in other districts or accept compensation.

In late August, the Chengdu municipal government announced that all shantytowns will be renovated or rebuilt over the next five years, a project which will see homes totaling 15 million square meters renovated or reconstructed.

Nationwide, the Chinese government aims to revive another 10 million homes in dilapidated neighborhoods. Between the start of 2008 and the end of 2012, 12.6 million homes were renovated.

Analysts say these projects are being integrated into China’s new-style urbanization that improves people’s livelihoods and injects vitality to the economy, which slowed to 7.5 percent in the second quarter of 2012, form 7.7 percent in the first.

People-centered

Premier Li Keqiang has reiterated the importance of people-centered urbanization. He emphasized that improving urban infrastructure and other weak sectors both satisfy’s people’s aspirations and stimulates investment and consumption.

Annual renovation of 2 million to 3 million dilapidated homes can generate investment of 200 billion yuan to 300 billion yuan, adding a 3-percentage-point increase in investment growth, according to forecasts of China International Capital Corp Ltd.

Wang Zhong, governor of China Development Bank’s Sichuan branch, told Xinhua that the branch signed an agreement with the Chengdu municipal government this year to specifically support Chengdu’s new-style urbanization.

The branch will offer 100 billion yuan in credit over the next five years to help with the city’s investment plans on projects such as a public transit system, urban construction and rural-urban integration.

A report by the United Nations Development Program in August said that urban development served as the main force driving China’s economy in the past two decades, and will continue to do so in the coming decades. It forecast that the proportion of China’s population living in cities will rise to 70 percent. China’s urban population hit 690 million and accounted for 51.27 percent of its total population in 2011, the first time more people lived in cities than in the countryside.

Mounting pressure

But the UNDP report said China’s urbanization comes at a critical time, with pressure mounting in issues such as efficient use of natural and energy resources, development of urban governance systems, employment, transportation, housing and access to basic social services, security, and the livelihoods of migrant workers.

In Alley 14, the government is  negotiating terms with residents, with 15 percent of them undecided whether to agree to the renovation plan.

They complain the renovation plan is not completely fair and open.

“I am afraid we could be the victims. The government officials are pushing us to agree, but why don’t they just give us the money so we can renovate our homes by ourselves?” said a resident who declined to provide his name for fear of coming to the attention of officials who talk of “sunshine projects” and absolute openness.

Shi Ziqing, meanwhile, is in favor of the renovation in Alley 14. She has signed the agreement and is trying to persuade her neighbors to do the same.

Wu Shaofu, vice director of the housing management department of Wuhou District in Chengdu, said attentions has recently turned to rundown areas scattered in isolated spots.

Compared with large areas of old shingle-roofed houses, these smaller neighborhoods hold little commercial value for development and pose challenges.

For Wu, using a fair approach to convince Alley 14 residents of the benefits of renovation will determine whether their new-home dreams come true.

The author is a Xinhua writer.

 

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