A SHENZHEN entrepreneur said his company wanted to spend 1 billion yuan (US$152 million) on the construction of government-subsidized homes in the city, Chinese-language media reported yesterday.
Chen Zhilie, a member of the national political advisory body and board chairman of Evoc Group, an industrial computer manufacturer, made the remarks on the sidelines of the annual session of the CPPCC on Tuesday.
The board of directors has approved the plan [on investing 1 billion yuan in low-cost housing], said Chen. If the city government of Shenzhen has new subsidized housing projects, 1 billion yuan will be the amount we will invest.
According to Chinese-language media, Chen said his company could set aside 1 billion yuan for government-subsidized projects at a panel discussion on the issue with Vice Premier Li Keqiang on March 4.
I made a phone call to the board of directors and told them about my proposal after the panel discussion. And the proposal was approved at a meeting of the board of directors three days later, he said.
Chen refuted some speculations that his company wanted to get involved in the overheated and lucrative real estate business after building the government-subsidized housing.
Don t confuse me and Evoc with a real estate developer, he said. A real estate developer buys a land from the government and resells it in the market after development. But Evoc doesn t. We will build the homes and hand them over to the government, who will be responsible for allocating the housing to qualified people.
Chen, however, said he wouldn t donate the 1 billion yuan to the government for the subsidized projects. We will build the housing projects by ourselves and the housing quality is guaranteed.
The low-profile company, set up in Shenzhen in 1993, became a household name in Shenzhen in 2009 when it offered 15 million sterling pounds (US$21.38 million) to bid for the jersey sponsorship for a year for the English Premier League team Manchester United. But Evoc didn t win the sponsorship.
Evoc, standing for Everlasting Value, Obligation and Cooperation, is the world s third-largest industrial computer manufacturer. Don t be surprised that I am aware of corporate responsibility after having done business for 18 years. It isn t meaningless to do something that won t bring you any profit. I ll just try all I can [to build the low-cost homes]. (SD News)
