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Relocations are making people rich: PRC official

A Beijing municipal official has disputed claims that people evicted to make way for Olympic venue construction had been impoverished by low compensation payments, arguing the payout had been generous.

Zhang Jiaming (張家明), deputy director of the Beijing city government construction committee, on Tuesday said the payments had allowed people to buy better housing and some could even afford a car with the left over money.

He said 14,901 people -- involving 6,037 households -- were relocated to build the 31 Beijing venues.

The figures are in stark contrast to an estimate in December by the Geneva-based Center for Housing Rights and Evictions, which said 1.5 million people would be displaced by the time the Games are held. The group estimated 13,000 people were being evicted monthly in preparation for the Games.

Zhang said that his number represented only residents whose homes were on sites where venues were built and did not include other relocations brought on by highways, subways and the hundreds of skyscrapers being built to ready the city for the Aug. 8 to Aug. 24 Games.

Zhang spoke at a news conference at the new 18,000-seat Olympic basketball venue in west Beijing, which is expected to attract capacity crowds daily during the Games. The venue will hold its first test event in April -- a women's basketball tournament.

Zhang said there were no forced evictions involving Olympic venues and that the average compensation per household was 700,000 yuan (US$98,000).

"The relocation projects went very smoothly, so there was no one forced out of their homes for the venue projects," Zhang said. "After resettlement we guaranteed a much better life than the past."

"With the additional money they could even buy cars for themselves," Zhang said. "I will tell you a real story -- Some of the farmers became city residents and they got new jobs as cleaners and with the additional money they got their own cars."
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