Guangzhou, capital city of south China's Guangdong Province, will provide low-cost housing to needy people, the Yangcheng Evening News reported last week.

A housing estate planned by the municipal government, occupying an area of 119,000 square meters, will be built in Fancun District. Construction on the project will begin soon, and it is expected to be completed by May 2008.

The government-subsidized housing estate is planned for low-income families, especially for those who lost their homes after old buildings were demolished to make way for new constructions.

Apart from monetary compensation, the impoverished people can also apply for government-subsidized housing. The government said each person would receive at least 15 square meters.

In the past seven years, the government has built seven subsidized housing estates for more than 30,000 low-income people.

Guangzhou's Party chief Lin Shusen said in a recent meeting that the city would build more housing for poor people in the next five years.

The increase in commercial housing prices in Guangzhou far exceeded the growth of residents' incomes, the newspaper reported. It said most housing buyers in Guangzhou wanted to buy apartments priced at about 4,000 yuan (US$500) per square meter, citing a recent survey. However, most of the commercial apartments in the urban area are sold at more than 5,000 yuan per square meter.

Experts said the building of subsidized housing estates could help curb the soaring commercial housing prices and maintain the city's sustainable development.

(Shenzhen Daily February 6, 2006)