Rebuilt school torn down in Sichuan to get HK look

A senior Hong Kong government official will visit quake-devastated Sichuan Province after a damaged school that was rebuilt thanks to the government's donation was demolished for a massive real estate project.

The Zijing Ethnic Minorities Middle School, which was rebuilt in 2010 for minority students from the Aba Prefecture, has been demolished to make room for a large-scale commercial housing project by a private developer.[ Photo / Xinhua ]

Chief Secretary for Administration Stephen Lam will be in Sichuan in southwest China for three days starting today to examine the rebuilding progress as the Hong Kong government has donated HK$9 billion in total (US$1.16 billion) to aid the local reconstruction, Wen Wei Po reported yesterday.

Authorities in Mianyang said they made it clear that Wanda Commercial Properties Co Ltd tore down the school without its authorization.

"We are considering how to punish Wanda," Li Ze, an official with the Mianyang Investment Promotion Bureau, told the China Business News.

But a statement issued by Mianyang government on Monday said the school was torn down for safety concerns because the building was leaning after recent heavy rains.

The government said it has decided to spend 70 million yuan building a better-equipped school at an education park that will open in August next year, which was proposed by some students and their parents.

The Hong Kong government and the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers donated HK$2 million each to Mianyang after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake to rebuild the Zijing Ethnic Minorities Middle School. About 300 minority students from the Aba Prefecture studied there. Hong Kong government said it planned to reclaim the donation.