The era of housing shortages has come to an end in China with the per capita building area in urban regions increasing to 20.5 square meters, an official from the Ministry of Construction announced here Monday.
The per capita building area in the countryside has also increased, to 23.7 square meters, Li Xiankui, director of the Foreign Affairs Department of the ministry, said at a Sino- Japanese building exchange conference held in Yinchuan, capital of northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
During the Ninth Five-Year Plan period from 1996 to 2000, China carried out housing reforms by commercializing housing allocations instead of distributing houses as a form of welfare.
Moreover, China has further improved the public housing fund- raising system and accelerated the development of housing loans to individuals.
Currently, the number of employees participating in the housing fund system is nearly 70 million, and some 240 billion yuan had been collected for the fund, according to Li.
The reforms have also led to a boom in the real estate sector. The annual investment in real estate in urban areas has reached 440 billion yuan, Li said.
The three-day conference was jointly sponsored by the construction departments of China and Japan. Over 80 officials and experts from the two countries participated in the meeting
(Xinhua 08/28/2001)
