Plans have been issued for Xinghua city – located in East China's Jiangsu province – to demolish more than 20,000 dilapidated old rural houses and build new ones in the next five years, to improve the living conditions of residents.
The Anju community project at Lujadian village in Zhongbao town started construction on Feb 3, with a planned area of 10 mu (0.667 hectares). Some 28 houses are being built in the first phase of the project and are scheduled to be delivered to residents in December.
Xinghua previously released guidelines to optimize the approvals process and improve construction management for the redevelopment of the rural houses.
The city took moves to optimize the process of applying, allocating and using funds, boost daily inspections to guarantee the quality and safety of the houses and to ask the public to participate in the supervision.
A street of new rural houses after a recent revamp in Xinghua. [Photo provided to etaizhou.gov.cn]
In addition, it also compiled a construction and design atlas, as a free reference.
The city will now utilize a number of provincial and municipal funds – including an agricultural housing improvement fund, rural village construction fund and transportation infrastructure construction fund – according to an official in Xinghua's Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau.
According to statistics, Xinghua redeveloped 5,201 households last year and the amount accounted for 148.6 percent of the goal set by the province.