Harmonious demolition

(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-06-12 07:08

Though the votes cast by nearly 6,000 families last Saturday brought no magic solution, residents in Jiuxianqiao sub-district in Beijing enjoyed a rare chance to express their opinions on the future of their dilapidated housing.

The vote marks much-needed progress in the protection of private property rights in the midst of numerous urban renewal projects.

The Jiuxianqiao rehabilitation project is the largest construction project of its kind in Beijing. The old-style housing built in the 1950s is rundown and difficult to maintain.

The necessity to rebuild the sub-district is obvious. However, like many housing demolition projects in cities across the country, the local government and the real estate developers failed to sell the compensation policy to local residents. They finally decided to let the residents vote on a compensation policy.

The approach of settling the issues by a vote differs dramatically from the measures many local governments and property developers have used to forcefully move their projects forward against the will of residents.

Admittedly, the result of the vote still did not give a greenlight to the rehabilitation project. Less than half the families living in the sub-district voted to accept the compensation for moving to make way for the project.

But the vote, in itself, indicates the progressive attitude and good will of the government and the developers, who are seriously taking into account the will of the residents.

This marks an encouraging change taking place after the country passed its landmark property law earlier this year.

We hope Beijing's practice will set an example for other local governments and developers to ensure greater harmony during the course of urban renewal.

Some skeptics may doubt that a vote will create consensus on the renewal project. Others may worry about the rights of the minority groups.

These concerns are valid if the new practice is to prevail across the country. But they do not deny the necessity of such a democratic process that allows residents to make public their thinking.

More often than not, determining public opinion will shed light on the root causes of many difficulties that impede urban renewal.

(China Daily 06/12/2007 page10)

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