Poor forced to pay for county road

Lanxi county in Heilongjiang province forced its impoverished residents to loan the government 13 million yuan ($2 million) that it has failed to repay for 14 years.

More than 470,000 residents were told in 1995 that the money would be put towards a 21.9 km road to Zhaodong city.

Lanxi county government - which charged some people interest if they could not immediately afford the loan amount - said it would repay the cash in 1999.