Tina Chen
SHENZHEN planned renovation to buildings on an area of 35 square kilometers costing 180 billion yuan (US$27 billion) in the next five years, a conference on city renovation at KK-Mall was told Friday.
All urban villages in Futian, Luohu, Yantian and Nanshan districts would be redeveloped by the end of 2015.
The city renovation working conference also released draft rules for implementing city renovation regulations.
Public comments are being solicited until the deadline, Jan. 10.
The draft rules for any redevelopment must be approved by at least two-thirds of property owners and, those who agree, must own at least two-thirds of the property.
At least 15 percent of the redeveloped area must be set aside for public facilities such as roads, schools, hospitals, bus stations and public green space.
Public facilities will be a priority and should be done the same time as the redevelopment.
A regulation governing public housing was also announced at the conference.
The regulation stipulates that each redevelopment project should provide 5 to 12 percent of the land for public housing or 10 to 30 percent for affordable housing.
Land set aside for public housing would be free of charge and the city government would acquire ownership of public housing from the developer by paying construction costs plus 3 percent as profit.
The renovation projects could satisfy our demand for land instead of blindly planning vacant land, said Mayor Xu Qin. The redevelopment will explore the land to the maximum and will also facilitate industry restructuring.
Today s conference venue at KK-Mall is a good example of city redevelopment, Xu said. It was transformed from the former urban village of Caiwuwei.
All the parties, such as the residents of Caiwuwei Village, the village s legal entity, the developer and the city all benefited from the project. he said.
Nearly 100 redevelopment projects were launched throughout the city this year and a total area of 33 million square meters was planned for redevelopment, including 620,000 square meters of public housing.
Renovations would include 16 schools, 58 kindergartens, 46 community clinics and 10 bus terminals.
