A homeowner on the site of the city's new metro line has forced
the builder to find a more expensive digging method to avoid
damaging her house, rather than compensate her to move.
Lu Xiuhua's two-story house - 170 sq m large with a grocery
store her family runs on the first floor and living quarters on the
second - is located on the site of the new Guangzhou Metro (GZMTR)
Line 5.
The first phase of the project, covering 31 km and costing 15.3
billion yuan ($2 billion), was planned for completion next year and
opened to the public in 2009, reported the Southern Metropolis
Daily on Wednesday.
Most of the construction of the first phase is approaching
completion, said the paper.
However, one small section located in the Huangpu district is
holding back the project - the area where Lu's house sits.
In July, authorities offered to compensate Lu is she moved to
make way for the metro.
But Lu said the offer of 2,500 yuan per square meter for the
second floor and 2,800 yuan per square meter for the first floor
was too low and moving away would ruin the family's only source of
income.
She wanted the government to find jobs for her five children,
preserve the grocery store and pay the family at least 5 million
yuan in compensation.
The family, however, could not reach an agreement with the
Huangpu district construction bureau, which said their requests
unrealistic.
Construction of the affected section was suspended for a year.
Faced with the approaching deadline, the GZMTR decided to avoid
ruining Lu's home.
"We have started using a new method called shallow-burying and
subsurface excavation to dig the subway tunnel," Zhu Weibin, deputy
general manager of GZMTR, said.
"Using the new method to avoid further disputes shows the
human-oriented spirit of the metro company," Zhou Linbin, vice-dean
with the Law School of Sun Yat-sen University, said. "But the
public will suffer because of the delay."
Zhou said in the future, the metro company should submit any
disputes to the city's bureau of land resources and housing
management for arbitration.
Meanwhile, Lu is also showing signs of fatigue from the
stand-off.
"I think I have lost the 'war'. I do not hold any hopes of the
government finding jobs for my children, or that I will get
compensated with millions of yuan anymore," Lu told the Southern
Metropolis Daily.
"I just hope the construction finishes as soon as possible, and
my grocery store can resume its business."
(China Daily November 30, 2007)