NGO's low-tech, quake-proof houses praised on mainland
A non-government organisation rebuilding a Sichuan village with environmentally friendly earth houses was not offered Hong Kong government funding until the redevelopment was almost complete.
But the innovative project, which survived thanks to sponsorship from the Lee Hysan Foundation Fund, has been well-received by the central government, which said building earth houses would save the prefecture about 50 million yuan (HK$56.75 million).
Thirty-five earth houses will be built this month in Maan Qiao village in Sichuan's Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture with the help of the Bridge to China Charitable Foundation, an organisation committed to building infrastructure for mainland villages.
About 90 per cent of the houses in Maan Qiao village were damaged in a 6.1-magnitude earthquake in August - three months after the disastrous Wenchuan earthquake.
Most houses damaged in Sichuan's remote villages were made of earth, and the foundation teaches villagers to make use of the earthen rubble by mixing it with lime, bamboo and bricks to rebuild their homes.
Edward Ng Yan-yung, a professor of architecture at Chinese University who is steering the project, said the new approach was a lot cheaper than building concrete houses.
A standardised concrete house approved by the Sichuan government, with three rooms with a small courtyard, cost 70,000 yuan. But an earth house of about the same size with a washroom and a livestock-raising area cost only 20,000 yuan - matching the rebuilding subsidy offered by the Sichuan government.
'Villagers with an annual income of just 2,000 yuan have to borrow loans for a concrete house,' Professor Ng said, adding that it could take them 30 years to pay back the loans.
Tests conducted by Xian University of Architecture and Technology proved the houses were as quake-resistant as concrete houses.
The foundation sought HK$2.2 million in funding for the project in February from the Hong Kong government's trust fund for Sichuan redevelopments initiated by non-profit organisations. But foundation chief executive Sharon Chow said the project had failed to satisfy the application procedures, which required her to justify material costs, and the foundation eventually gave up on the application. 'It's impossible to provide an exact costing for recycled materials like earth. They are just waste,' Ms Chow said.
Professor Ng said: 'The procedures are too rigid. I'd rather spend my time doing real works instead of providing various justifications.'
He said the project was seen by the mainland's Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development as being at the leading edge of redevelopment, and the department had published a guidebook with the foundation for local distribution.
Professor Ng said the government had told him on Monday that the funding would be approved, after the South China Morning Post sought an explanation from the government. However, because the project was almost complete, the foundation had withdrawn the funding application.
A Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau spokesman said it had noted that the foundation had secured alternative funding.
The bureau said applicants had to meet the conditions of the government's trust fund and obtain consent from the Sichuan government.
