Guangdong cuts back on spending to help Sichuan
Administrations in some parts of the mainland have been ordered to cut back on non-essential spending, including big-budget plans for government offices, to make up for massive funding holes caused by the devastating May 12 earthquake in Sichuan province .
The government in Guangdong has imposed an indefinite ban on approvals for new government buildings to help free up money for relief operations in Sichuan.
Guangdong is one of the 19 central and eastern provinces that have been assigned to help the areas ravaged by the magnitude-8 earthquake. Its responsibility is aiding reconstruction efforts in Wenchuan county, the location of the tremor's epicentre.
Lavish and expensive government buildings have been at the centre of public outrage in recent years, with authorities in some impoverished regions rushing to build fancy government complexes.
Controversy has also prompted the municipal government in Chengdu, Sichuan's capital, to put its controversial new government compound up for auction to generate extra revenue needed for reconstruction, He Huazhang, director of the municipal government's publicity department, said this week.
The new complex, consisting of an egg-shaped building surrounded by six wedge-shaped buildings to form a flower pattern, was designed by French architect Paul Andreu, whose design of the National Grand Theatre in Beijing also stirred controversy.
The complex, in Chengdu's southern outskirts, raised eyebrows for its whopping 1.2 billion yuan (HK$1.37 billion) budget since construction started in 2004. It was intended as part of the government's drive to build a new district touted by authorities as 'the Pudong district of western China'.
The decision to halt further relocation of government agencies to the new complex and to auction off the buildings has angered many developers and homebuyers betting on a development boom in the area.
Wang Juan, who works for a state-owned enterprise, said the government relocation plan was part of the reason she bought a house in the far-flung district and decided to live there. Ms Wang said she thought the area would become a new city centre, but now the price would drop.
'It just turned my life and plans upside down,' she said.
An official with International Luxehills, an upmarket property developer in Chengdu, said its losses would be limited as the company was still just in the planning stages for a project in the area.
'But the decision will dent investment confidence in the same way that government policies affect the stock market,' he said.
Hong Kong has also offered to help. Today the Legislative Council will be asked to approve creating a special HK$2 billion fund to aid the Sichuan reconstruction.
Additional reporting by Chen Jingsi
