Chongqing municipality will spend 100 billion yuan ($13.8 billion) over the next five years on the demolition and renovation of all old and dangerous housing complexes in its nine urban districts, officials have said.
The mammoth project aims to build affordable housing for low-income residents, said officials from the municipal government.
The city's development and reform white paper revealed the ambitious plan. The 100 billion yuan investment is about a quarter of Chongqing's estimated gross domestic product for last year.
Zhou Bo, a spokesman for the municipal government, said this year the city will finish building an additional 1.8 million sq m of affordable housing for 30,000 low-income families.
Between 2004 and last year, 4.5 million sq m of such homes were built for 55,000 low-income families.
Chongqing has about 7 million sq m of old and dangerous housing complexes in its nine urban districts. The city currently has 160,000 low-income families who need decent accommodation.
Bo Xilai, Party secretary of Chongqing and former minister of commerce, said improving the urban environment is essential to people's livelihood.
A densely populated city like Chongqing has to build more clean and tidy public spaces for the common people, he said.
Huang Qifan, executive vice-mayor of the city, said earlier that the urban population in Chongqing will hit 10 million in a decade, becoming one of the six "super-large" cities of China along with Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Tianjin.
Municipal plans placed the number of farmers becoming urban residents in the next five to 15 years at 10 million.
International architects will also be recruited to help modernize buildings in the city in its quest to become an international metropolis, officials said.
Questions:
1. How much money will Chongqing spend on renovating and demolishing public housing in the next five years?
2. What is the number of low-income families that need decent accommodation?
3. Chongqing will become a Chinese super-large city along with five other ones. Name them.
Bernice Chan is a foreign expert at China Daily Website. Originally from Vancouver, Canada, Bernice has written for newspapers and magazines in Hong Kong and most recently worked as a broadcaster for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, producing current affairs shows and documentaries.
