Relocation project sees 2.66 million homes built in five years

Relocation to new houses with government help has benefited almost 10 million impoverished people in China during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020), an official said.

Since 2016, more than 600 billion yuan ($91.4 billion) has been invested in building new homes for 9.6 million people struggling in extreme poverty, with 2.66 million houses or apartments built, Zhao Chenxin, secretary-general of the National Development and Reform Commission, told a news conference in Beijing on Thursday.

The average living area for each household was 80.6 square meters, he said, adding that 6,100 schools and kindergartens, 12,000 hospitals and clinics, 3,400 senior care centers and 40,000 venues for cultural activities were also built to benefit residents.

Zhao said the relocation project was carried out jointly by the NDRC, the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development and the ministries of finance, civil affairs, natural resources, and human resources and social security, to lift people out of poverty by moving them from places where the environment prevented them from thriving.