Debris of a house that had stood in the middle of a new road for more than a year and was finally demolished yesterday morning in Daxing Town, Wenling City in east China's Zhejiang Province. This ended a long confrontation between the owner and the government over compensation. |
"It was never our intention to live in a house in the middle of the road. Following the government's explanations, I finally decided to move," Luo told Xinhua News Agency yesterday.
Luo had initially refused the government's standard offer of compensation as he said the sum was less than half what his property was worth. He said he spent more than 600,000 yuan building the house in 2001 and renovated it several years ago.
While neighboring homes were leveled, the road was built around the intact home, leaving it as an island in a river of asphalt.
The road has yet to open.
In 2008, the Wenling government made plans to relocate about 459 households in Xiayangzhang to make way for a main road at the city's new railway station.
All other householders accepted the compensation deal on offer and moved out before construction started last year.
More than 400 families were relocated in Luo's neighborhood, said Lin Xufang, the publicity official of the township government.
Chinese web users dubbed Luo's home the toughest of all nail houses because of the length of time the stalemate had lasted before the bulldozers moved in.
Luo's home may have partly attained its toughest nail house status because power and water supplies were maintained.
In many other similar disputes owners are forced out after utility supplies are cut off.
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