1．South China Morning Post: I’m from Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post. First I’d like to know how much the city government has invested in its subway network. And second question. We read a news report that says Shanghai will re-launch the Disneyland park project, is it true? And could you give more details? Thank you.

Ying Minghong: We have injected more than 200 billion yuan into the whole subway network, including over 90 billion yuan from the city and district governments and the rest in loans we obtained from banks. All the funds are in place.

Jiao Yang: About the second question, we’ve also read the report. I reiterate that any large theme parks must get approval from the State Council, and Shanghai follows the state policies. So far, we’ve heard no word on the approval. I hope media outlets will not quote any gossip they get from unofficial channels.

2. SMG: Thank you. I’m from SMG. You mentioned just now that the city has tightened its crackdown on the group renting since March. So how is the crackdown going at present? And what facilities are a must if the empty houses are turned into dorm rooms?

Jiao Yang: The question concerns the majority of the citizens. Since the crackdown started in March, it has got wide coverage in news reports, and varied responses, which shows everyone pays their attention to the issue. Now I’d like to brief you over this.

Firstly, the leaders attach great importance to the issue and have kept a close eye on the enforcement of the program. At the district level, crackdown leadership teams have been formed, headed by district officials in charge of the work and made up of functional departments of comprehensive management, real estate, public security and business administration. At the community and township level, crackdown leadership teams have also been formed, headed by chief leaders in the community and township governments and made up of departments of comprehensive management, real estate, public security, business administration, and urban management.

Secondly, many approaches are working simultaneously to enforce the ban. One is to publicize the crackdown through media outlets to educate citizens and discourage them from being involved in the practice. Second is to urge those involved in the practice to quit it by arranging meetings, home visits and sending notices. And third is to raid those group renting residences that have hidden dangers, have attracted strong complaints from neighbors and have refused to stop even after the deadline.

Thirdly, efforts have been stepped up in comprehensive management to stifle the practice at its early stages. To achieve this goal, the city issued a directive to set guidelines for the homeowners and specify renting rules in the hope of instilling self-discipline in the homeowners. Also, the city asked property management companies to enforce the gate checking of those entering and leaving the community and enhance daily patrolling. In addition, the city organized a group of leading property brokerages in advocating the boycott of group renting in the industry.

The crackdown has been pushed forward greatly after the above-mentioned approaches were adopted jointly by different sides. By the end of October, the city has stopped about 4,300“group renting”residences, more than 40 percent of the target, achieving initial effect. The program is going in an orderly manner.

As to the second question, a dorm room converted from an empty residence must meet the following requirements:

One, each residence may hold a maximum of eight people, and the per-capita floor area must be at least 6 square meters or the actual floor area in use must be at least 4 square meters.

Two, each residence must have toilet facilities. If there are more than 10 rooms on a floor, at least two toilet rooms are a must on the floor. The kitchen must be located near the outer wall, and it is banned that each room has a separate kitchen, and the rooms must meet the requirements for sunlight, ventilation and safety. All these requirements were set to ensure the safety and hygiene for the migrant workers.

3. Phoenix TV: Thank you. I’m from Phoenix TV. The first question: The State Bureau of Statistics yesterday published the CPI, and I’d like to know the figure in Shanghai where the prices also are rising quickly. In addition, some supermarkets are selling some products at discounts. Does the Shanghai government has measures in response to the rising prices and to prevent accidents (in event of promotions? We also noticed that Shanghai’s housing prices are steadily rising. Furthermore, as there are fewer and fewer new houses on the market, the second-hand homes play the leading role. Though the government has taken strict measures, we haven’t seen any specific (illegal) case exposed. Is it because authorities didn’t find any such case or because they have difficulty in cracking down on the practice?

Jiao Yang: The city’s CPI is released by the Shanghai Statistics Bureau. We can help you get it from the bureau if you need.

The market supply of pork, food and oil has been widely reported in media, and has attracted attention from the public. We learned from the city’s economic commission that the supply of pork and oil in local market is stable at present. The city has taken a series of steps to ensure the supply well into the New Year’s Day and the Spring Festival.

The steps include:

One, the city coordinates the production and sale of products in an efficient way as well as sourcing the supplies. The city has stepped up its cooperation with the major pork processing areas in Henan Province in production and sales and sharing of information in this respect to ensure that the city has adequate supply of pork. Food and oil processing businesses have arranged well their production, retailers like supermarkets have taken active steps to source the supplies to ensure enough and diversified supplies to the meet the market demand. We have made sure that supplies are never out of stock because of break of logistics links.

Two, we ensure that there are enough stock and goods are distributed in a timely manner. Firstly, the supplies of daily necessities like pork, rice and edible oil are kept in an adequate level. Secondly, the logistics network is well organized to offer enough commodities and make sure citizens have easy access to them and the supplies are ready at hand. Thirdly, large-scale wholesale markets have continued to play its role in attracting supplies of commodities and increase the trade of processed food and oil.

Three, the city has strengthened the monitoring of the market and regulating of the market order. Monitoring of the supply of food and oil on the markets has been intensified to get first-hand information for better analysis and prediction. Referring to the Measures on the Management of Promotions by Retailers, the city has completed a wide-covering inspection of promotion activities at local retailers. After that, we took down-to-earth steps. We prohibited retailers from organizing promotions at a limited time and amount, especially those featuring daily necessities like food, oil, salt, pork and eggs, as they are prone to traffic chaos, human injuries and commotion Instead, we encouraged them to arrange promotions that are legal, fair and honest to create a harmonious commercial environment.

As to the real estate market, we gave detailed information on it at earlier press conferences. Generally speaking, it has been quite stable since the beginning of the year, but recently the demand saw a surge and housing transactions also increased, triggering further price hikes. As usual, the city government will strictly implement macro-control policies on the real estate market, including the State Council’s suggestions on solving the housing difficulties of the low-income residents in urban areas, speed up the perfection of the housing welfare system and intensify the reform of housing supply structure. We have made special efforts to increase the supply of affordable houses. Official statistics show that the volume of newly built housing approved for sale during the September to October period rose 18 percent over the July to August period. Shanghai will continue to pursue the policy of“Three Priorities,”enhance the control over the real estate market, further regulate the balance of supply and demand and carry out the special crackdown on the real estate market to ensure a stable housing market. Just now the reporter mentioned that some developers are hording their houses for bigger profits. We’ll also continue the crackdown on the illegal practice.

4. 21st Century Business Herald: Thank you. I’m from the 21st Century Business Herald. I’ve a question about the Maglev. How is the project going? It is the first time that Shanghai has introduced insurance funds to a construction project, and will the government use insurance funds in the construction of subways, which need a large sum of investment?

Jiao Yang: I’ve no new information on the first question.

Ying Minghong: To control the cost of building the subways, we have signed a contract to get funds from China Life Insurance after discussing it seriously and gaining approval from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission. We’ve obtained 2.5 billion yuan of loans in insurance fund. We are going to try this out in more projects.

5. China Business News: My question goes to Mr Ying. I’m from China Business News. Just now you said the relocation to make way for subways will involve a lot of residents, so how much is the cost of the relocation? As the Subway Line 2 will be extended to Pudong Airport, does it mean the Maglev line will be deserted and running it will cause bigger losses?

Ying Minghong: The relocation is coordinated by the city government and the district governments, and the cost varies from district to district. The final figures will be offered by audit officials. Anyway, the cost is higher than before according to the market evaluation. The program of extending the subway line to the airport and its impact on the Maglev line have undergone intense examination. The Maglev line is a high-speed transport means that will link the two airports, with few stops in between. The No.2 subway will also link up the two airports, but within the distance of 60 kilometers it will have many more stops. It will mainly serve the development of the areas along the line and solve the traffic problems of the residents, and the travel speed is much slower. The two lines will complement each other.

6. Youth Daily: Hello, I’m from the Youth Daily. Bike renting may be a method to solve the traffic problems along the line, does the city government has measures to encourage bike renting?

Jiao Yang: As I know the practice has been widely adopted in France. I’ve no idea about it in Shanghai.

7. Oriental Morning Post: I’m from the Oriental Morning Post. It seems that the taxi fare is set to rise, and is there any new information on it? Thank you!

Jiao Yang: I have talked about the system of pegging fare to fuel prices at an earlier press conference. Given the continuous price hikes in the international fuel market, the city is studying the need to adjust the taxi fare based on the system. But before the adjustment, the city government will offer temporary subsidies to taxi drivers according to relevant regulations issued by the State Council. The current subsidies to the bus operators will stay, that is, the government will offer subsidies to cover the cost that goes above 4 yuan per liter. Meanwhile, businesses are required to enhance their responsibility sense, strengthen supervision of the industry, regulate internal management and search for ways to leverages based on the market rules to further improve the fare-pegged-to fuel system.

8. Shanghai Morning Post: Thank you. I’m from Shanghai Morning Post. We read a news report from southern China today that says Guangdong is suffering from a severe oil shortage. Does Shanghai has enough stock of fuel?

Jiao Yang: I talked about this in great details at last press conference, and I don’t have more details.

9. Metro Express. I’m from the Metro Express newspaper. My first question is about the real estate. Just now we talked about the crackdown on group renting and turning empty residences into dorm rooms. However, those who need to rent a house include not only the migrant laborers but also white-collar workers. Has the government come up with any measures, such as refurbishing houses in a proper area, to encourage them to rent houses there? My second question is about the intervals between trains on the subway lines. Could you tell us the exact plans? For example, the intervals may be shortened on Line 1, and will it happen on Line 4 too as the line will have more transfer points to other lines? What about next year?

Jiao Yang: The regulations I mentioned just now apply mainly to those migrant laborers employed by companies and institutes in Shanghai instead of all those who need to rent a house. Of course, we are exploring many other ways to solve residence problems confronting those from out of the city.

Ying Minghong: We’ll announce the intervals on Lines 6, 8 and 9 ahead of time before they go into operation by the year-end. On the northern extension section of Line 1, the intervals will be cut to six minutes from the current nine minutes. The intervals on Line 4 are 11 minutes at present. The intervals will be cut to five and a half minutes on some sections by early next year and on the line by the end of 2008.

10. MBS: I’m from MBS. The relocation for the subway projects involves as many as 12,000 households. Does the government has any security measures for the relocated families and does the relocation hinder their daily life? The construction of such large projects as subways will pollute the environment, and does the government has any protection measures?

Ying Minghong: Our relocation policies are very transparent and have been published. We give priority to the construction ethics. In fact, we’ve set many requirements on this: A construction company must ensure its trucks work properly, are kept clean and go along designated routes, and urban management teams in each district will keep a close eye on that. In addition, at the construction sites, the construction companies must take steps to cut the noise and dirt, including using low-noise equipment and avoiding working at night. To reduce traffic jams, constructors dig out a section, put a cover, and continue to dig under the cover. Also, we set stricter rules for the constructors depending on the specific site. Citizens are encouraged to check on the construction rules to make sure the constructors will improve. Of course, there leaves room for improvement, and we’re constantly improving.