Transform of old residential buildings advances

Work to transform residential buildings with shared toilets, bathrooms and kitchens is well underway in Putuo District, one of the Shanghai districts with the largest number of such buildings.

The district government told the city’s legislators on Tuesday during their inspection that by the end of June, it had started to sign contracts for transformation projects with residents of 55 such buildings out of the 168 aimed for this year.

The number of households which have signed the contracts so far is 2,683, accounting for 65 percent of all involved, with 100 percent of the residents agreeing to the projects in 34 buildings, the government said.

The first projects this year are expected to start by the end of this month.

The government said transformation projects have finished in old buildings covering 105,000 square meters and the benefited households now have their own toilet, bathroom and kitchen within their apartment, but still 16,000 households living in buildings of 555,000 square meters are to be included in the projects.

A problem is that usually 100 percent of residents need to give consent, and in many cases this condition is hard to fulfill. The district government said it has taken measures to address the problem.

Meanwhile, to those who decline to give consent after repeated attempts of persuasion, the government will consider using legal means against them so as to protect the interest of other people.

Also, in a transformation case at a residential complex on Wuning Road where two of the 143 households failed to give consent before the project started last year, it was implemented regardless with the homes of the two households left unchanged.

The government said the case shows its resolution to push forward the transformation projects.

Raising their hopes for getting the work done more efficiently, the government said it hopes city-level technical standards for planning, structure and transformation methods can be introduced.