The Guangzhou government has revived a massive urban redevelopment project after it stalled for six years because of a lack of funding.
Guangzhou's Bureau of Urban Planning uploaded an outline of its redevelopment scheme for 300,000 square metres of downtown Haizhu district on its website yesterday, inviting the public to comment before January 9 on the preliminary scheme drafted by Guangzhou-based South China University of Technology architectural experts.
Any demolition work will be paid for by the government and redevelopment will be funded by private developers.
Under the plan, the government will pull down or repair all the old buildings in the area on the south bank of the Pearl River, relocating more than 20,000 people in the process.
All the streets in the area with arcade-style housing typical of Guangzhou's heritage buildings would be preserved, the government said. Dangerous, termite-riddled arcade houses on Tongfudong Road would be turned into shops.
The revival of the scheme was not related to any economic stimulus package but rather stemmed from an announcement by Guangzhou Communist Party secretary Zhu Xiaodan two years ago to improve living conditions, a district official said.
He said companies hired to assess the cost of the project estimated that the relocation bill alone would run into the billions of yuan.