As of the end of October last year, 259,000 units of the 255,000-unit shantytown renovation projects included in Sichuan Province's 2018 national plan had broken ground, exceeding the annual target two months ahead of schedule.

Since 2018, Sichuan has actively implemented the “better solve the housing problems of the people” requirement set out in the 2018 Government Work Report of the State Council, steadily advanced the new three-year shantytown renovation campaign, and achieved a good start. The main measures taken are as follows:

Focusing on factor guarantees, ensure that shantytown renovation projects break ground. In 2018, Sichuan incorporated shantytown renovation start-up tasks into the provincial Party Committee and provincial government's assessment of city (prefecture) Party committees and governments on livelihood projects and practical livelihood matters, the provincial government's assessment of city (prefecture) governments on affordable housing projects, and the performance management assessment by the Sichuan Provincial Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of city (prefecture) housing and urban-rural development administrative departments; targets and tasks were assigned level by level from province to city to county, and target responsibility letters were signed level by level to implement responsibilities and ensure completion. At the same time, shantytown renovation funds were actively raised. Throughout the year, 11.8 billion yuan in shantytown renovation subsidy funds were arranged at all levels; from January to October, about 182 billion yuan in bank credit was obtained for shantytown renovation loans, with 86.174 billion yuan disbursed; and 4.591 billion yuan in special shantytown renovation bonds was issued. In addition, the shantytown renovation plan was refined into specific projects and implementation lists, with task books, road maps, and timetables laid out. A batch of mature 2018 projects secured funding and broke ground smoothly in the fourth quarter of 2017, ensuring early completion of start-up tasks. As of the end of October 2018, 259,000 units of the 255,000-unit shantytown renovation projects included in last year's national plan in Sichuan had broken ground, completing the annual target two months ahead of schedule.

Adjust and optimize resettlement methods to meet the diverse housing needs of shantytown residents. Since 2018, due to rising housing prices, monetized resettlement has increased government resettlement costs, but monetized resettlement has been accepted and widely chosen by shantytown residents. Sichuan has not simply taken a “one-size-fits-all” approach; it has promptly adjusted and optimized resettlement methods and actively explored and promoted a resettlement housing model of “capping housing prices and bidding land prices.” On the one hand, monetized resettlement compensation funds are directly converted into investment in resettlement housing construction to prevent monetized resettlement funds from entering the real estate market and affecting housing prices; on the other hand, multiple methods are used to ensure that shantytown residents can choose housing. For example, Chengdu stipulates that in each commercial housing project, a certain proportion of the current pre-sale housing stock, subject to commercial housing price caps, shall be given priority for purchase by households under monetized shantytown resettlement. At the same time, social capital is introduced to reduce pressure on government funds. For example, based on the shantytown renovation plan for the next three years, Neijiang will provide a total of about 500 mu of land in batches in its annual land supply plan for the targeted construction of commercial housing sold at capped prices to shantytown residents, with the maximum sales unit price of shantytown resettlement housing set as a precondition for land auctions; resettlement housing prices are 20% to 30% lower than surrounding commercial housing prices.

Some localities have also actively built service platforms for residents to choose housing. For example, Zigong established a “Shantytown Residents Housing Purchase Service Center,” built a “Shantytown Residents Housing Purchase Service Platform,” and launched an official account app. By integrating the “three resources” of “government services, the real estate market, and financial services” and using information technology, it implements “six concentrations” across the city: centralized policy release, centralized project inclusion in the database, centralized signing of expropriation contracts, centralized information management, centralized fund supervision, and centralized housing selection by residents, achieving “five one-stop” services: one-stop publication of policies and regulations, one-stop housing purchase for residents, one-stop real estate transaction services, one-stop real estate information inquiries, and one-stop delivery of beneficial policies.

Innovate government-enterprise cooperation models and vigorously advance shantytown renovation for large enterprises. The housing conditions of employees in Sichuan's industrial and mining enterprises are generally poor, and the enterprises are unable to carry out shantytown renovation. For example, large central and state-owned enterprises such as Pangang Group Co., Ltd. have grown together with Panzhihua City. Due to historical reasons, more than 30,000 employee households have poor housing conditions, many still living in self-built houses from the 1960s and 1970s, or even brick-tile houses and adobe houses, and their living conditions cannot be improved in the short term by the enterprises alone. The Panzhihua Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government took the initiative and incorporated enterprise shantytown renovation into the city's “one chessboard” approach, advancing it under the principle of “municipal-level overall coordination, with territorial governments as the main body and large enterprises jointly implementing.” The municipal level is responsible for overall planning, policies, and funds; counties and districts are responsible for housing expropriation and resettlement for shantytown renovation; and large enterprises cooperate with territorial governments in implementing shantytown renovation.

Land vacated by shantytown renovation is handed over to the municipal government for unified planning; in principle, small parcels of vacated land are used to build parks, green spaces, and parking lots. Shantytown renovation loan funds are raised uniformly by the city, and the funds raised are shared and repaid by the city and district levels at a 5:5 ratio. The municipal level also arranges funds for shantytown renovation through multiple channels, including the urban maintenance and construction tax, urban public utility surcharges, urban infrastructure supporting fees, and land transfer revenue. In 2018, among the city's 24,600-household shantytown renovation projects in Panzhihua, large enterprises such as Pangang accounted for 18,000 households.

Strengthen full-chain management and reinforce risk control for loan principal and interest repayment. Because many units participate in each stage of shantytown renovation work and repayment periods are long, in order to ensure timely and full repayment of special project loans and effectively prevent financial risks, Sichuan has strengthened full-chain management of shantytown renovation loan funds and established a statistical reporting system. According to statistics, from January 2014 to March 2018, the province's shantytown renovation financing credit totaled 402.003 billion yuan, and 152,200 mu of transferable land was consolidated through shantytown renovation, with estimated returns of 339.616 billion yuan; overall risk is controllable.

Cities (counties) in Sichuan have also actively explored and established repayment mechanisms suited to local conditions. For example, Chengdu established a “three locks” repayment mechanism for shantytown renovation debt: lock the land vacated by shantytown renovation projects, with land returns prioritized for repaying shantytown renovation loans; if insufficient for repayment, lock land from non-shantytown renovation projects and allocate part of the land returns for loan repayment; if still insufficient to cover the debt, lock in municipal fiscal resources to resolve the remaining portion.