Beijing cracks down on bizarre apartment-top villa
CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, AP
BEIJING
(AP) — A medicine mogul spent six years building his own private
mountain peak and luxury villa atop a high-rise apartment block in
China's capital, earning the unofficial title
of "most outrageous illegal structure." Now, authorities are giving him
15 days to tear it down.
The
craggy complex of rooms, rocks, trees and bushes looming over the
26-story building looks like something built into a seaside cliff, and
has become the latest symbol of disregard
for the law among the rich as well as the rampant practice of building
illegal additions.
Angry
neighbors say they've complained for years that the unauthorized,
800-square-meter (8,600-sq. feet) mansion and its attached landscaping
was damaging the building's structural integrity
and its pipe system, but that local authorities failed to crack down.
They've also complained about loud, late-night parties.
"They've
been renovating for years. They normally do it at night," said a
resident on the building's 25th floor, who added that any attempts to
reason with the owner were met with indifference.
"He was very arrogant. He could care less about my complaints," said
the neighbor, who declined to give his name to avoid repercussions.
Haidian
district urban management official Dai Jun said Tuesday that
authorities would tear the two-story structure down in 15 days unless
the owner does so himself or presents evidence
it was legally built. Dai said his office has yet to receive such
evidence.
The
villa's owner has been identified as the head of a traditional Chinese
medicine business and former member of the district's political advisory
body who resides on the building's
26th floor. Contacted by Beijing Times newspaper, the man said he would
comply with the district's orders, but he belittled attempts to call
the structure a villa, calling it "just an ornamental garden."
Authorities
took action only after photos of the villa were splashed across Chinese
media on Monday. Newspapers have fronted their editions with large
photographs of the complex, along
with the headline "Beijing's most outrageous illegal structure."
The
case has resonance among ordinary Chinese who regularly see the rich
and politically connected receive special treatment. Expensive vehicles
lacking license plates are a common sight,
while luxury housing complexes that surround Beijing and other cities
are often built on land appropriated from farmers with little
compensation.
China's
leader Xi Jinping has vowed to crack down on official corruption, and
Beijing itself launched a campaign earlier this year to demolish illegal
structures, although the results
remain unclear.
Demand
for property remains high, however, and the rooftop extralegal mansion
construction is far from unique. A developer in the central city of
Hengyang recently got into hot water
over an illegally built complex of 25 villas on top of a shopping
center. He later won permission to keep the villas intact as long as
they weren't sold to others.
While
all land in China technically belongs to the state — with homebuyers
merely given 70-year leases — the rules are often vague, leaving
questions of usage rights and ownership murky.
A
city in Sichuan province recently caused a minor stir when it was
discovered to have cut the length of land leases from the normal 70
years to just 40 years.
The
local government's response to public queries drew even more jeers.
Officials posted a statement online maintaining that the law allows for
lease periods of less than 70 years and
adding: "Who knows if we'll still be in this world in 40 years. Don't
think too long-term."
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