At 3:30 pm on August 27th, following a series of loud explosions, 14 out of 15 unfinished buildings were blasted down. These buildings are located in the A1, A3, and A4 plots of the Phase Two Project in Liyang Star City Community, Kunming City. The total of these properties is worth more than one billion US Dollars, and were instantly turned into rubble, after almost 10 years of life.
The buildings that were blasted down belonged to the phase two project of the Liyang Star City Community, which is located in Wuhua District, Kunming City, Yunnan Province, covering an area of approximately 56 acres, composing four plots.
Looking into the development history of the Kunming housing market, you will find that unfinished buildings are everywhere, and almost all the once popular development areas have had several unfinished projects. According to mainland media reports, as of May of this year, 93 unfinished projects have been counted in Kunming, among them, 26 projects have been resolved so far. Another 30 projects are planned to be resolved this year, and all of them will be resolved next year.
There are two common ways to revitalize unfinished buildings, one is to find new partners and implement capital restructuring; the other is to have companies with financial strength to purchase and revitalize them. There are successful cases. Some unfinished projects have become hot sales, even though they had been scorned by homebuyers before.
The reason why there are so many unfinished buildings in Kunming stems from the vigorous city building movement that began in 2008.
On December 28th, 2007, Qiu He, the former vice governor of Jiangsu Province, became the Secretary of the Kunming Municipal Party Committee. This official is famous for his strong style and iron-fisted governance.
Qiu He is also known as the "Father of Wumao". It is said that in 2005, when Qiu He was in charge of Suqian City in Jiangsu Province, he started recruiting Internet commentators, commonly known as "Wumao", to guide public opinion on current political issues, which was later promoted nationwide.
On November 29, 2011, Qiu He was promoted to deputy secretary of the Yunnan Provincial Party Committee, and left Kunming in a mess.
On March 15, 2015, the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection revealed that Qiu He was under investigation for serious violations of discipline and law.
With the fall of Qiu He, the radical city-building movement came to an end.15 High Rise Buildings Turned to Rubble Within 45 Seconds
Unfinished Building | China Real Estate
China Observer | Premiered August 29, 2021
