Pudong village to be developed into B&B town
Print Edition
FU Jinlong, a 71-year-old resident of Lianmin Village in the Pudong New Area, recently signed an agreement with promoters to rent out his two-story house which will be redeveloped and used for bed-and-breakfast accommodation, also known as minsu.
Lianmin Village, a water town, is about 5 kilometers away from the Shanghai Disney Resort. It has little over 1,000 households, most of them growing paddy or working at factories.
The area was earmarked by Shanghai to support minsu projects. Developers will redevelop 50 houses — rented out from the villagers for 15 years — into exquisitely designed villas in the first phase of the project.
Most existing B&Bs in Shanghai operate in a grey area because they are unlicensed and pose fire and food safety hazards.
The 50 minsu houses along the Wuzhaogang River will be licensed. The redevelopment will be based on the city’s first safety regulations for such premises that were issued by the Pudong government.
The 50 villas will start taking in visitors from May next year.
Part of the attraction of the project will be reaching the B&B houses on boats. The project is backed by Pudong government but will be operated by a local minsu company.
Fu and his wife were among the first households to sign an agreement. Their 204-square-meter house has six rooms, but only Fu and his wife live there after their children moved to Zhoupu Town in Pudong.
“Most rooms are unused now. The furniture is old. We thought it was a good idea to rent the place out,” Fu, a former accountant, said. He will get 650 yuan (US$98) as rent every month for every room, meaning Fu can earn nearly 50,000 yuan a year, which is “higher than the market price.” The rent will also rise by 10 percent every two years over the 15-year period.
But B&B is still a brand new concept for most villagers and the 15-year rental seemed long. “We heard about the project in April, and it took us some time to make up our mind,” Fu said. “There are uncertainties because of the long period ... and situations can change fast.”
Creating jobs
Fu grew up in the house that was owned by his parents. The house was rebuilt in the 1980s. He and his wife will move into a 70-square-meter house that also belongs to him.
So far, about 30 households have signed the agreement or have agreed to sign them. The houses range from about 140 to 240 square meters.
“Most of them have other houses or apartments elsewhere,” said Yao Cuiping, Party secretary of the Lianmin Village. “The project is good for villagers because it will create more jobs, and Lianmin will become more beautiful. Its layout will be better and its profile will also be lifted.”
Each minsu house will cost at least 600,000 yuan for redesigning and interior decoration.
A night’s stay on average will probably cost around 1,000 yuan depending on the rooms, according to Chen Yiping, project director of Mingzhufuxiang, the developer of the project.
Although the village is only 15-minute drive to the Disney Resort, Chen said they were not targeting only Disney visitors.
“We hope to attract people from nearby cities who seek quality life and look for a tranquil place to relax over the weekend,” she said.
Besides Pudong, several districts including Qingpu, Jinshan and Songjiang are exploring B&B options.
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