Guiyang city reforms shantytowns over period of 10 years

Before the reconstruction of a house at a shantytown in Guiyang. [Photo/Guiyang news network]

A new building after the shantytown reconstruction. [Photo/Guiyang news network]

The city of Guiyang – capital of Southwest China's Guizhou province – completed 94 shantytown reconstruction projects on schedule in 2021, with a 100-percent sign-up rate by residents, according to the Guiyang bureau of housing and urban rural development.

Guiyang and the nearby Guian New Area are scheduled to demolish more shantytowns and build 60,000 more new apartments in 2022 and another 45,000 in 2023.

In 2011, Guiyang issued the Implementation Opinions of Guiyang on Further Accelerating the Reconstruction of Urban Villages and Shantytowns. It then started the reconstruction of urban villages and shantytowns, in accordance with relevant national policies and the unified planning of Guiyang, focusing on the reconstruction of shantytowns in 1,230 square kilometers of central urban area.

Over the course of a decade from 2012, significant achievements have been made in the region – from the transformation of shantytowns, to the transformation of old residential areas and then to the standardization of property management. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2012, Guiyang has accelerated the construction of the housing security system, benefiting residents' lives.

From 2016 to 2020, Guiyang made full use of the golden period of the national shantytown reform policy and secured a total of 4.26 billion yuan ($599.14 million) in central government subsidies, 118 billion yuan in medium and long-term policy loans and commercial bank loans, as well as 810 million yuan in special bonds for shantytown reconstructions.