Burning issue over crematorium move

Villagers go on a building spree to get more compensation for their houses

About 200 families in a village in western Beijing eagerly await compensation for their newly built bungalows as the government prepares to buy up their land for the relocation of the city's largest crematorium.

Wolonggang village in Mentonggou district is now packed with courtyard homes, narrowing down passageways to half the original width.

The relocation of Babaoshan crematorium, the largest in Beijing, started on Dec 25 after almost five years of debate. There is still no precise date for the project.

Parts of several villages in the target area will need to be relocated, but Wolonggang is the only case where the entire village will be demolished.

The Beijing municipal commission of development and reform said last year that the reason for the relocation was to free up land in urban areas.

METRO saw rows of newly finished bungalows standing empty, some with unpainted walls, others without cement even. Villagers said they had built them only to get higher levels of compensation.

A female villager surnamed Zhang, who has lived in the village for 50 years, said she was initially told she could get as much as 8,500-yuan per sq m in compensation, and has the chance to buy a property nearby.

"Naturally I don't want to live so close to a crematorium. I saw other residents miss out on fair amounts of compensation in the past, and I just want to make sure I get what I deserve," she said.

Chen Wen, in his late fifties, used to run a restaurant and a lime factory in his 560-sq-m courtyard, only 500 m from Wolonggang. His house was torn down in 2005.

"At that time, the local government forced us to sign an agreement to provide us with just 500 yuan per sq m. But I heard that the municipal government paid 6,000 yuan per sq m to the local government," Chen said.

Chen, who received only 230,000-yuan in compensation for his 560-sq-m yard, said he had planned to appeal to the higher authorities.

This was until another resident was reportedly almost beaten to death by local gangsters before his own appeal.

"We were so scared," Chen said.

A female villager surnamed Dong told METRO that two villages in Yongding town, Shimenying and Wangcun, were also torn down in 2009 for the project.

"One of my friends refused to sign the agreement in another village but local authorities pulled her house down anyway," she added.

Neither the municipal government nor the local government has been available for comment since Friday.

(China Daily 01/11/2010 page25)