Tens of thousands of residents are benefiting from a program to improve shanty towns.

The two-year-scheme in northeast China's Liaoning Province was launched in 2005.

By its completion, around 8.48- million-square-meter informal settlement areas in 11 cities across the province will be upgraded, involving 270,000 families and 840,000 residents.

Last year, 7.65 million square meters of shanty towns were rebuilt.

Liaoning has 14 cities in total, with only Shenyang, Dalian and Anshan being excluded from the scheme.

Among those to have already benefited is 35-year-old Xie Suqin. She had dared not call her parents to tell her about the conditions she was living in since she moved to Fushun, an industrial city, 10 years ago.

"There was no tap water, no heating system and not even a proper, concrete road. I did not contact my parents as I did not want them to worry about me," said Xie.

"But I can call my parents often after I moved into the new house early this year," she added.

She lives in the Modi area of Fushun, one of the biggest shanty towns of the industrial city.

Her new house, built by the local government, is equipped with water, electricity and a heating system.

It is part of a huge overall project.

"There are many reasons behind this project social stability, sustainable development and even environmental concerns," said Li Jia, vice governor of Liaoning who is in charge of the project.

Most of the residents living in the shanty towns are miners as these cities have an abundance of mines.

Many of their families have lived in the shanty towns for more than 50 years. There are no flush toilets, and roads and paths become impassable during rainy seasons.

Besides the poor natural environment, social conditions are also much worse than other regions.

"We have the responsibility to help them live better. This is also for social stability and public welfare," said Li.

The basic cost of the project is around 20 billion yuan (US$2.5 billion). Central government has promised to input 2.6 billion yuan (US$320 milion). Last year China Development Bank provided Liaoning with a 3.9 billion yuan (US$480 million) loan for the scheme. The provincial government also raised 1.33 billion yuan (US$164 million).

"Also with the investment of local city governments, we raised enough capital for the project and the project is going well at present," said Li.

According to the policy of the project, shanty town dwellers can have new houses for free with the same size of their old ones.

If they want bigger houses, they only need pay around 600 yuan (US$74) to 800 yuan (US$100) per extra square meter.

Most of the new houses are between 50-70 square meters to help the residents easily exchange homes.

As for those disadvantaged and senior people, local government provides them with low-rent houses.

Other provinces, such as neighboring Jilin Province and north China's Shanxi Province, are also planning similar programs.

(China Daily March 23, 2006)