Public housing in Sino-Singapore eco-city ready for sale

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2012-03-13

TIANJIN - The first batch of public housing units in an eco-city, a joint project between China and Singapore, will be sold in north China's Tianjin municipality in April.

The Tianjin Eco-City, envisioned by the Chinese and Singapore governments as a model project for creating a sustainable living mode, will have 151 public housing units for sale at the first bidding through lotteries in April, the town's administrative office announced Tuesday.

The average price is set at 7,000 yuan (about $1,070) per square meter.

Covering an area of 30 square kilometers in the Binhai New Area, the town plans to house 350,000 residents.

Each of the public housing units that will be up for sale is less than 60 square meters, and each is furnished and has necessary home appliances.

The office said public housing will take up 20 percent of the construction area in the eco-city, with about 20,000 units in total.

According to a threshold set up by the municipal government for potential buyers of the public housing units, only married couples with an annual family income of less than 120,000 yuan and those that have a job in the eco-city are eligible to buy the houses.

Besides offering public housing, the eco-city is also aimed at becoming a platform for foreign firms, as well as small and medium-sized technology enterprises engaged in green projects such as the Low Carbon Living Lab, a state-of-the-art office building project.