Shantytown Renovation 棚户区改造
Shantytown renovation refers to government programs to demolish and rebuild homes in urban areas. The urban revitalization programs began in 2005 in northeastern cities. From 2008 to 2012, local governments rebuilt 12.6 million homes in such programs, and last year they worked on 3.2 million more. This year’s plan is to rebuild 4.7 million homes, government data shows. The programs have been mainly funded by the central government, as well as private and non-state investors. To support the renovation projects, the central government allocated 41 billion yuan for the first six months of this year, up year-on-year by nearly 150 percent for the same period. In the future, the projects will mainly be directed toward the country’s central and western regions, in isolated mining areas and in resource-exhausted regions.