Homebuyers protest in Shenzhen against shabby public flats
More than 300 homeowners from a government-funded housing project demonstrated outside the Shenzhen government headquarters yesterday, demanding the mayor answer for their shabbily built apartments.
Several thousand low-income households were expected to benefit from inexpensive housing in the development, called Taoyuan village, but instead they were faced with shoddy construction and given no assistance, while the developer reportedly recorded huge profits.
Several Hong Kong and mainland newspaper reports said the developer was the younger brother of disgraced former Shenzhen mayor Xu Zongheng, who was formally placed under investigation for corruption in June. But Shenzhen officials refused to confirm whether the project was linked to him.
Protesters shouted and demanded yesterday to see the new acting mayor, Wang Rong .
They said authorities tried to force them to sign unfair compensation agreements and end the protest, by harassing their employers and children's school principals.
'Although we have found huge holes in our flats, the government only offered 12,000 yuan [HK$13,600] compensation,' property owner Huang Rirong said.
She refused to sign the compensation agreement, and said her teenage daughter had been warned by her teacher that if the agreement was not signed, she would not be able to graduate.
Ms Huang said she expected 60,000 to 70,000 yuan in compensation from the government after paying about 5,000 yuan per square metre for the apartment.
Property owners complained that the government made huge profits off the publicly funded estate.
They said public bidding documents showed the total investment for the whole project was about 500 million yuan, but huge profits had been generated from the apartments for low-income families.
'Authorities sold all apartments and gained 1.3 billion yuan, and they will receive another 700 million yuan after selling the stores and parking lots built inside the estate,' demonstrator Liu Yuan said.
Owners said Vice-Mayor Lu Ruifeng failed to fulfil his vow late last month that authorities would investigate the profits made by the developer and disclose the construction cost. One said: 'We should not have to endure shabby houses.'
