Zong Qinghou, a deputy to the 12th National People's Congress (NPC), is surrounded by journalists in Beijing, capital of China, March 5, 2015. The third session of the 12th NPC opened in Beijing on March 5. (Photo/Xinhua)
Zong Qinghou, China's beverage billionaire and a deputy to the National People's Congress, is now casting his eyes onto the renovation of rundown urban areas. [Special coverage]
Zong, the chairman of Chinese drink maker Hangzhou Wahaha Group, has suggested that residents in these shanty areas should not be removed. Instead, they should be allowed to stay in the renovated areas where they live.
China aims to complete shantytown renovation by 2020. The goal also includes a crucial part of providing low-income urban residents with affordable housing.
However, in most cases the renovation projects mean that residents have to bid farewell to their shanty homes in the downtown areas of the city and move to suburbs where transportation and other public facilities are still in need of improvement.
Disputes and even violence sometimes occur because many residents are reluctant to leave the areas they consider home.
Zong has also urged local governments to offer affordable housing to young couples in a bid to not only ease young people's financial burden and help them settle down in the cities, but also reduce the number of unsold homes.
The third- and fourth-tier cities in China currently face huge housing pressure. Reducing these smaller cities' property inventory has been set as one of the top priorities for the Chinese government in 2016.
