Calls for affordable burials

SHANGHAI: More affordable burial plots will be made available for low-income residents, the local civil affairs department said yesterday.

The scheme will set aside 25,000 sq m for economical public cemetery spaces within three to five years. The cost of a tomb containing a single urn will be capped at 1,000 yuan ($146), the department said.

The municipal government had asked 22 local mausoleums and cemeteries to provide land for the campaign, a civil affairs official surnamed Zhang told China Daily yesterday, adding the first 10,000 sq m would be made available in October this year.