Wrecking ball set to fall in six months

By Cui Xiaohuo (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-12 08:21

Thousands about to leave homes for CBD expansion

Demolition of neighborhoods that are currently home to thousands of households will take place in less than six months, in preparation for the planned expansion of the Central Business District (CBD), authorities have announced.

Displaced families will be resettled in southeast Beijing's Gaobeidian area, where 5,000 new apartments have been allocated, according to Cheng Lianyuan, governor of Chaoyang district, who was speaking on a radio program last week.

His announcement came a week after the Beijing Municipal Commission for Urban Planning released the general design for the 3-sq-km CBD expansion. Public input on that document is currently being received.

The government expects the expansion project will take between six and eight years to complete.

The initial plans do not yet include details of new high-rise buildings.

The massive demolition of the area will start with non-residential buildings as early as June in Hongmiao, Xiaozhuang and Balizhuang communities, Cheng said. Residential buildings will start coming down in September.

"The authorities expect the relocation project to have made solid progress before the end of this year," Cheng told the radio program.

"By then, the land exploitation for the expanded area should be ready for bidders."

The official also suggested relocated residents would do well to accept the government's offer of resettlement.

"The Chaoyang authority has selected an ideal place for the resettlement. The Gaobeidian apartments are located just outside the Fourth East Ring Road, and the authorities will include elite schools in the newly developed areas," Cheng said.

Residents, mostly seniors who have lived in the area for decades, have had the opportunity to comment on the relocation since last month.

Some residents said they were worried the relocation might leave them without easy access to daily necessities.

Wu Guiping, Party secretary of the Balizhuang community, told METRO only a small number of investment-minded residents were mulling the relocation as an opportunity to make money.

"Most residents are elderly and are living on their own. They don't have interests in investment. They are concerned with necessary housing if they get resettled," the official said.

The municipal government decided last October to nearly double the size of the CBD. It said that, while the move will require the relocation of many people, it will attract 100 billion yuan in investment and create 100,000 new jobs.

While the area now features hundreds of residential buildings dating back to the 1950s, the authorities hope to sweep them away in favor of modern and low-emission office buildings, public transportation infrastructure and three roadside parks.

The Chaoyang district boss also said in an earlier interview that a new landmark, which will become Beijing's tallest building if it is constructed, should be part of the CBD expansion, to underline the city's growing role as an international business center.