China's State Council Information Office holds a press conference about the low-rent housing system, a major means to solve housing difficulty for urban low-income families, in Beijing on Aug. 30, 2007.(Xinhua Photo)
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    Housing fund to be raised for low-income families

    BEIJING, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- China will try hard to fund housing for low-income urbanities as funding remains a problem, said Qi Ji, deputy minister of construction on Thursday.

    "There is still a big fund gap," Qi told a news conference about expanding low-rent housing for the country's low-income families.

    By 2010, the low-rent housing system will expand from four million urban residents with basic living allowances to those 10 million low-income families, according to a policy framework released by the State Council earlier this month.

    "To let more families enjoy the low-rent housing, China needs an annual fund of 50 billion yuan but all money that can be raised can barely reach 14 billion yuan every year, said Qi. 

    Gov't to crack down on property speculators 


    BEIJING, Aug. 31 -- The government will get tough on those involved in illegal activities and speculation to cool the country's booming property market, a leading construction official said Thursday.

    "We are in the middle of a campaign to regulate the property market and will crack down hard on anyone engaged in illegitimate activities such as stockpiling land and bidding up prices," Qi Ji, vice-minister of construction said at a press conference.

    "We will expose and punish unscrupulous developers and do everything we can to prevent price hikes driven by non-market factors," he said.

    Qi said the government will also introduce differentiated tax and credit policies to deter people from buying property for investment purposes and control the demand for large apartments.