Assisted relocation helps villagers improve livelihoods

Residents living in rocky desertification areas in Guizhou province are moving to new homes with government subsidies.

The province plans to invest 3.1 billion yuan ($498 million) to relocate more than 150,000 people in 2013. The beneficiaries are expected to have more opportunities to raise their household incomes and enjoy a higher standard of living.

In Ma'an village, the Taoyuan Miao autonomous county, the relocation plans were made in 2006 after a massive landslide struck the village in 1999, destroying the arable land and leaving the villagers in extreme poverty.

Since 2006, new houses have been built with a uniform design and layout, typically 80 square meters with two bedrooms and a living room, on what has been called "Friendship Street". The area is expected to grow into a boomtown at the juncture of Guizhou and Sichuan provinces and Chongqing municipality.

In 2008, when the first group of villagers from 28 households moved in, each family needed to pay 39,000 yuan. They also got an extra 30-square-meter space to open a store.

The same package was provided to 30 households during the second round of relocation in 2011. Each family paid 50,000 yuan to move in.

So far, 80 households have relocated. The majority of the villagers, from more than 300 households, still live in their native places.

New home

Xiang Gongbin, 59, said his family used 50,000 yuan from bank loans and moved in 2008.

The loans are not paid yet, for lack of savings. The household managed to pay about 5,000 yuan a year, covering only the interest.

Xiang and his wife used to find manual work at construction sites near home to support the family.

After moving to the new house, they stopped working to look after two grandsons, both 4 years old. Their livelihood depends on money sent from their two sons, who work in other cities.

"The interest paid to the bank in these years has already amounted to a big sum. I know the longer we delay paying off the loans, the more money we will end up giving to the bank. But we have little savings, and the family needs money to keep running," Xiang said.

Xiang said he hopes a more favorable policy will lower bank interest rates to help struggling villagers.

Despite the financial pressure, Xiang said he made the right decision.

"It is much easier to get around, with buses and highways. I can find staples at a nearby store. Unlike in the past, I had to carry several bags of rice and other daily necessities from a distant marketplace to home," Xiang said.

The biggest advantage is the closeness of schools, which his two grandsons will soon attend. "There is a school within walking distance. The boys don't have to repeat their fathers' hardship by going to boarding schools at a young age," Xiang said.