City legislators to supervise demolitions

With the demolition of old neighborhoods to make way for new city development in full swing, legislators on Wednesday announced a four-month plan to supervise the process.

The government plans to finish renovating 500,000 square meters of old neighborhoods with about 25,000 households by the end of this year, and by now 90 percent of the tasks have been either accomplished or started, according to the government.

Ma Ren, vice director of the urban-rural construction and management commission, told legislators that the government will continue to accelerate the mission, seek solutions to households still using chamber pots and make sure that historic neighborhoods are preserved.

Legislators will focus their supervision on planning, policies and mechanisms of old neighborhood demolition and renovation especially in Huangpu, Jing’an, Hongkou and Yangpu districts which have the largest number of such projects. 

Renovation of old neighborhoods not covered by demolition plans but with low hygiene standards will be investigated.

They will also investigate how to better preserve historic buildings within neighborhoods to be demolished.