The first 100 families moved out of Shanghai's
Pudong New District to new homes in a town on the city's outskirts
on Sunday morning to make way for 2010 World Expo venues.
"It's a pity to leave my old home," said Xu
Jinrong, a former Pudong resident, in an interview with Xinhua.
"But we look forward to moving into bigger apartments."
China's largest city will resettle 10,000 families
this year from their homes to new apartments.
Xu lived with 10 other family members,
including his parents and three brothers. Their old home, nearly
100 years old, was 70 square meters. Now the four brothers will
have a two-bedroom apartment each, he said.
Shanghai will build 5.28 square kilometers of
facilities and infrastructure for the 2010 event, nearly four
square kilometers of which will be located in Pudong New
District.
According to the Expo's organizing committee, all
civil construction is to start by 2007, which means the city has to
resettle 300 organizations and 17,000 families in the next two
years.
Shanghai has built 2 million square meters of
residential apartments to resettle these families.
"The resettlement project aims to improve the
quality of the Shanghai residents' lives," said Vice Mayor Zhou
Yupeng.
The 2010 World Expo, held every five years, will be
held in Shanghai from May 1 to October 31 with the theme of "better
city, better life."
(Xinhua News Agency April 11, 2005)