Beijing vice- and acting mayor Guo Jinlong said yesterday the municipal
government will work hard to contain the housing price hike and
provide low-rent housing for poor residents.
He said the government will, among other measures, strengthen
macro controls on the property market, adjust land provision and
keep a tight housing credit policy to achieve the goal.
The government will spend 2.9 billion yuan ($400 million) to
build and purchase 500,000 sq m of houses and flats and rent them
to low-income residents at affordable prices, the official told
about 770 lawmakers at the annual session of the legislature.
Beijing will also build a total of 7.5 million sq m of houses
and flats with reasonable prices and sizes this year, as one of the
measures to curb the price hike, Guo added.
The government has plans to spend 580 million yuan to renovate
the houses of 10,000 families that live in dangerous
conditions.
The average property price in 70 major cities in the country
last month were up 10.5 percent from the same period the previous
year, while in Beijing it was up 17.5 percent, figures from the
National Development and Reform Commission showed earlier this
week.
Officials from the Ministry of Construction have criticized some
developers for being only interested in building large-sized
luxurious apartments for high profits.
A number of developers hoarded land and apartments or spread
false information to create public fear of housing shortages to
drive up prices, Vice-Minister of Construction Qi Ji said.
Earlier this month, the State Council, China's Cabinet, made
amendments to the regulation on administrative punishment for price
violations, which will hand out more stringent penalties for
illegal price manipulations.
(Xinhua News Agency January 21, 2008)
