Society
Poor county's fancy new town left unfinished
By Zuo Likun (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-05-05 14:15
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An ambitious six billion-yuan new town project in a backwater county in northern China's Inner Mongolia, whose annual revenue merely tops 30 million yuan, has ended up in idle government offices and at least eight half-finished buildings.
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 A combined photo shows unfinished government buildings at the Qingshuihe County, north China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region. [Photo/People's Daily] |
A rusty lock guards the centre complex in the new town of Qingshuihe County, a deserted hilly zone 16 miles (26 kilometers) from the old town. Pigeons could be seen flapping inside, layers of feces on the ground. Also left unoccupied are halls for local finance and revenue departments, a new court as well as a high school. An unfinished hotel is stacked with forage by herders, the People's Daily reported on Wednesday.
Locals and officials said the ten-year new town project was wildly far from reality, especially in a national poor county. The Qingshuihe County government could afford only 5.4 percent of the 6-billion-yuan construction bill. While the larger part relies on bank loans, brewing 120 million yuan interest fees, which alone the county needs four year's saving to repay, the newspaper said.
Ten years after its launch, the new town project was completely dumped in 2008, along with its relocation program, leaving locals wondering aloud who to blame as officials have rolled around in the past decade.
