Shantytown residents trade shabby rooms for better lives

After years of struggle, Wang Fenglan finally saw her son get married, because her family had a room for the newlyweds thanks to shantytown renovation.

"The shabby room we lived in didn't have enough room to squeeze in another bed for a fourth person," said the 63-year-old resident of Shenyang, Liaoning province.

They traded the tattered apartment for a new one during the city's renovation of shantytowns in 2007, and Wang said she was happy to live in the much better apartment.

Like Wang, millions of residents have seen improvements in their living standards. From 2008 to 2012, the central government allocated around 130 billion yuan ($21 billion) for reconstructing the shantytowns in cities, providing new apartments for 12.6 million households in China.

"We have noticed the urgent need from the residents in shantytowns for improving their livelihood, thus putting more attention into these projects," Feng Jun, chief economist with the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, said at a news conference on Wednesday.

Construction began this year on an additional 7 million affordable housing units, of which 4.7 million are targeted for residents of shantytowns.

The ministry also has taken steps to make sure 10 million more households in shantytowns get new apartments by 2017, Feng said.

To support these shantytown transformation projects, the central government has expanded the financial subsidies to 198 billion yuan this year, an increase from 7.2 billion yuan in 2007.

However, financing is still a major problem for reconstruction of shantytowns in China, leaving some renovation projects unfinished for years.

Chang Ronghua is one of the affected residents. She used to live in a shantytown in Shenyang that was removed in 2004, but construction of replacement housing has been suspended since then.

Feng from the housing ministry suggested that local governments verify their financing channels and bring non-governmental funds, such as special bond issues, into these projects.

Yi Chengdong, a real estate expert at the Central University of Finance and Economics, said the reconstruction of shantytowns should be conducted gradually instead of on such a large scale, which makes supplementary services barely able to keep up with construction.

"During the renovation, the governments could let the market play a bigger role," he said, adding that for the shantytowns with excellent locations, local governments need to encourage real estate companies to lead the reconstruction, thus including more benefits in the projects.

Contact the writers at zhengjinran@chinadaily.com.cn and liuce@chinadaily.com.cn