The Guangzhou government's decision to bulldoze a total of 165 villas to give way for construction of a key project in the Guangdong provincial capital has antagonized most of the property owners involved.

The villa owners claim to have filed a lawsuit against the local government and asked for the withdrawal of its decision to demolish the properties.

Apparently attempting to hold up the newly amended Constitution in defense of their rights, they cited the Constitutional declaration that the legal properties of individuals should be protected.

But an official from the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court said the court has not received any notice of filing yet and refused to comment on the case.

The conflict began after the city's bureaus for land, resources and housing management jointly issued a notice last August requiring the owners to move away so that their villas could be demolished to make way for construction of Guangzhou University City on Xiaoguwei Island in the city's Panyu District.

According to an official from the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Land and Resources, the government has every right to take back the land use rights from property owners for construction of key state and government projects, because land is owned by the state.

The official, who refused to be named, said the government has offered to compensate the villa owners but failed to satisfy them.

Most of them refused to move into the apartments provided by the government in busy downtown areas, the official told China Daily on Wednesday.

Many of the villa owners are painters, professors and artists who prefer to live on the city's outskirts. They include overseas Chinese and compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

The official said his bureau would continue to negotiate with the owners and try to reach an agreement in the coming days. But the villas will have to be bulldozed because the Guangzhou University City is a key project, he stated.

Meng Qi, director of the Construction Headquarters for Guangzhou University City, said the villa area would become a green area for the project, which covers more than 43.3 square kilometers.

A highway will also be built to link the university project to the city's highway network after the villas have been bulldozed, Meng said.

(China Daily April 22, 2004)