Society
Wrecking ball smashes hope of affordability
By Jin Zhu (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-10-15 08:55
 |
Large Medium Small |
BEIJING - The first demolition of government-subsidized apartments in Beijing has provoked public concern about building quality and progress in China's social housing program for the underprivileged.
|
 A woman goes home with keys she just received in an affordable housing community in Jiujiang, Jiangxi province on Sept 12. [He Guang / for China Daily] |
The building project, named Sunny Paradise, includes both commercial and government-subsidized housing in Daxing district, about 40 kilometers from downtown Beijing.
In August, six of its nine buildings under construction for government-subsidized housing were ordered demolished due to the use of substandard concrete and two other buildings needed reinforcement, according to the Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.
Demolition is scheduled to be finished in two months, but the developer has not decided on a time for reconstruction, the report said.
"My heart aches when I see the buildings fall. The construction began in December 2009, and some buildings are nine floors tall now," an owner surnamed Han said in the footage.
"The buildings are supposed to be completed in June 2011. But now, I have no idea when I can move in," he said.
China plans to build 5.8 million government-subsidized apartments this year for those with low incomes and those who live in shantytowns. From January to September, construction started on 5.2 million such apartments, figures show.
But queries on building quality and housing conditions prevail among the public as the media has reported several cases involving poor quality, as well as the remote locations of such apartments.
In October 2009, about 500 families in a government-subsidized community in Chongwen district of Beijing found rain leaking into their rooms, local media reported.
Li Wenjie, North China region general manager of property agency Centaline China, said the country already has some preferential policies for building economically affordable apartments, such as tax revenue and land leasing.
"But some developers still manage to cut costs as economically affordable apartments bring lower profits than commercial apartments. Therefore, stricter measures on quality control should be taken," he said.
