2009-12-16
According to the requirements by the municipal committee and the municipal government, it will continue the protection and repair work on houses this year on the basis of improving 10,000 houses in the Old City last year. A fund of 1 billion Yuan is provided by the Finance Bureau of Beijing and the corresponding fund is also offered by each administrative district to 20,000 houses for protection and repair of the Old City. This is an important undertaking and a Zhezi project of the municipal government.
Up to now, 33,571 houses are under repair, covering 521,900 m2 and involving 23,197 families; 32,794 houses are already completed, covering 503,500 m2 and involving 22,382 families; and 2,004 families have been evacuated, achieving 122% of the plan made at the beginning of the year.
The following measures have been taken for the house protection and repair work this year:
Firstly, the related municipal department issues the Regulations on Protecting and Repairing Houses in Historical & Cultural Streets in the Old Beijing City and formulates detailed methods with regards to support funds. The Regulations specify the principles and implementation rules of this work, so as to provide proper work foundations according to the law.
Secondly, some municipal departments invite experts on old buildings to classify and assess the houses and courtyards to be repaired, thus taking appropriate measures of removing, changing or preserving them. Meanwhile, overall training is given to construction companies. During and after the process, corresponding experts are also invited to inspect the work and give some instructions while providing full technical guarantee for the house protection and repair work in the Old City.
Thirdly, each district pays close attention to each link of the repair project in strict compliance with the standards of “good bidding, high-quality of materials, outstanding quality and great effects”; each social professional supervision company is responsible for supervision over the process; and construction quality assurance department at each level strictly checks the quality, all of which guarantee the quality of the project. Following the principal of keeping the original appearance of old houses and reasonably improving the living conditions of residents. All parties involved strive for the unity between house repair and scene preservation in close conformity with the standards for house repair, thus gaining the understanding and support of residents.
Fourthly, related departments and each district government coordinate with each other to carry out civil engineering transformation and environment improvement, such as “coal to electricity” in the historical and cultural streets, sanitation facilities transformation, overhead lines into ground, and hutong façade refit. Best efforts are made to conduct unitary design and implementation, thus avoiding the influence of repetitive construction on residents’ life and the surrounding environment.
Lastly, in order to consider regional development planning, industry position and keeping the original feature of old streets, some departments fully utilize rich original cultural resources, insist on giving the same priority to protection and development, and actively build special streets. This consequently forms a series of commercial blocks with strong traditional cultural characteristics, such as Qianmen Street, Dazhalan West Street, Yandai Xiejie and South Luogu Lane.
Afterwards, our city will continue perfecting the policy, enhancing work mechanisms and promoting orderly implementation of house protection and repair work in the Old City in accordance with the general requirements of “Repair, Improvement and Evacuation”.