China Daily Global Edition (USA)
New houses improve local lives
Now that October is here and his chores are over for the farming season, Zhang Quansong, a worker in the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, has enough time to enjoy life.
His home, on the Sanping farm of the 12th division under XPCC, is in one of the six residential areas constructed since 2011.
The 47-year-old worker moved into the apartment in April, 2013. “The new home is equipped with tap water, gas and cable TV,” Zhang said, “It is much more convenient than what we lived in before.”
Workers can choose apartments with areas ranging from 75 to 130 square meters, and the space of former houses can be converted into a new apartment, said Liu Yulong, head of the farm.
“If the workers chose a smaller apartment, they could get a payment of 2,480 yuan ($404) for each square meter,” he said.
Zhang got more than 90,000 yuan compensation fee when he chose the 115- squaremeter house because his former house is larger. “The price is sound, almost same to the local house price,” he said.
Among the 17,000 residents on the farm, 11,000 live in residential areas, and the rest will move in by the end of this year, Liu said.
Zhang rides a motorcycle or takes a bus to the farm he works on several kilometers away from his family’s apartment. “My income from the 14-mu grape land is stable, about 100,000 yuan one year, but my life has changed a lot,” Zhang said.
XPCC has promoted urbanization since the central government’s meeting on the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region was held in 2010 with the aim of providing a better living environment for workers at the grassroots level and to attract more talent.
“We contracted real estate companies to construct the residential areas, and then we provide land resources for them with the same prices, said Liu, “This model solves our capital problem,” he said.
Besides constructing central residential areas with schools and hospitals, the resettlement project is another way to improve workers’ lives.
The 104th regiment, also under the 12th division, has established a settlement site for workers of Kazak ethnic groups in the mountainous areas.
The regiment has carried out three phases of settlement since 2008 for 570 residents at the site.
“We changed the house designs to fit the living requirements,” said Ren Zhiyu, head of the regiment.
The regiment, 25 kilometers from Urumqi city, capital of the region, has the potential to develop tourists sites showing rural life. Tourists like the ethnic lifestyle and room decoration, said Hadebek, a 45- year- old Kazak worker who runs a home-visiting business. “The monthly income is about 5,000 yuan,” he said.
The regiment also built a cattle farm, a leisure park for tourists and breeding yards to help workers increase the income. Each family gets an income of 24,000 yuan from the cattle farm.
By 2013, XPCC had established seven cities and more than 100 town-level sites, with more than 70 percent of workers moving into new houses.