The Beijing government said on Saturday that it was scheduled to start construction of 8.5 million square meters housing project of low-rent and affordable apartments next year, a move to boost the housing consumption and benefit the low-incomers.

The Beijing Municipal Construction Committee said it would strictly carry out the overall land use program and ramp up efforts on the land reserve for low-rent and affordable apartments.

Meanwhile, it would tighten land supply to commercial residential projects where the infrastructure and service facilities are not mature enough, said the committee in a joint circular issued with other ten local governmental agencies.

It vowed to strengthen market supervision and service to better regulate the market order and protect home buyers' legitimate rights.

China said early this month to invest 900 billion yuan (US$131.8 billion) for housing construction in the coming three years, which would benefit 7.47 million low-income households.

(Xinhua News Agency November 23, 2008)