Construction companies are real victims of forced demolition projects

By Li Jianfeng Source:Global Times Published: 2015-11-27 0:13:01

Jia Lingmin, a so-called housing rights activist based in Central China's Henan Province, was sentenced to four years for provoking trouble by a local court early November. Jia is known among the public for raising controversial and grandstanding protests in the name of defending the rights of the people whose houses are demolished. The court's verdict proves that most of her undertakings are simply tricks with ulterior motives.

House demolishers are always depicted as the "bad guys" by traditional and social media, while the people whose houses are to be demolished seem only to be at a disadvantaged position. However, as a staff member for a State-owned power company, I have a different opinion.

In the process of house demolition, the house owners actually have the dominant say. In most cases, they don't show up as the guys who need protection. The Chinese government has hammered out standard for compensation that must be strictly followed. Any violation will be punished by the law.

In fact, because the government ramps up the standard for compensation year by year, most people whose houses are waiting to be torn down are not fed up with the plan.

As China keeps urbanizing the countryside, semi-urban areas have become the major battlefield of demolition.

People living in these regions have developed a deep understanding of government policies about demolition, and gathered intensive experience to deal with real estate developers and demolishers, which have made them top of the "food chain" of all parties involved in demolition.

I was on a transformer substation project. When I first came there to survey the land, the place where the substation was about to be built was merely farmland.

But three months later, I was stunned by the sight that the farmland had been dramatically changed into a pond to raise soft-shelled turtles, a piece of land to plant rare trees, vegetable greenhouses, nursery gardens and residences.

These new constructions mean my company has to pay an extra 7.5 million yuan ($1.17 million) for compensation, which is very unlikely to be met because the project budget was never laid out that way. These farmers had a clear intention to take advantage of the substation project and ask for more compensation.

The media widely believe that forced demolition is against the law and a violation of human rights.

The blame has been largely put on the government, real estate developers or the demolishers. When it comes to forced demolition, there must be dingzihu, or "nail houses," impeding the construction.

These house owners hold out for extravagant compensation, like a nail refusing to be hammered down.

I worked for a 100 million worth power transmission line project. The entire project was basically finished except for a nail house. The owner of the nail house asked for better compensation simply because the line crossed over the roof of his house.

After rounds of negotiation, they had no intention to compromise, but insisted on their original demand.

The project had to be changed a bit, rewiring the electric lines to bypass the nail house.

However, the owner came up with other tricks, saying he had to pass the electric lines when he came to work every day and the electromagnetic radiation might harm his health, so he demanded an environmental re-assessment. Many unreasonable demands like this have severely delayed the process of the project.

The budget of State-owned enterprises has to be used based on the laws and regulations.

As the situation of demolition and relocation has been turning complicated, we need to exert greater efforts to stick to the standards carried out by the government, or some owners of "nail houses" will blackmail these companies or even the government.

The author is a freelance writer. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn



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