Residents of a community in China’s Shandong Province say a long-delayed housing redevelopment project has left dozens of families without homes. Villagers who have repeatedly petitioned authorities for an investigation also allege they have faced retaliation.

A resident involved in the dispute spoke to The Epoch Times on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal. 

The resident, who lives in Qianhewan Community in Linyi City, told The Epoch Times that residents have spent years seeking answers about the project, including unfinished apartment buildings, disputed housing allocations, and questionable construction expenses.

Unfinished Project

The redevelopment project, which was incorporated into a shantytown renovation program in 2012, was intended to provide housing for 1,185 households, with a planned total investment of 296 million yuan ($44.3 million). Construction began in 2016, according to information provided by the resident.

However, only 942 housing units across 20 buildings were completed, he said. Three additional buildings remain unfinished despite having their foundations laid.

The resident said the project’s unresolved issues also include disputes over housing assignments, delays in transferring financial records, and construction costs.

One area of concern involves the groundwater drainage work required during construction of the apartment buildings.

Documents provided by the resident to The Epoch Times indicate that drainage work for buildings 1 through 16 cost nearly five times more than the cost for building 20.

The residents commissioned a third-party construction cost review, which shows that the costs were inflated significantly.

The allegations cannot be independently verified by The Epoch Times.

The dispute also involves how apartments were allocated during multiple rounds of demolition and resettlement.

“There may be more than 100 disputed housing units,” the resident said. “Some units were promised to villagers in the past, but 40 to 50 households still cannot get their apartments.”

Alleged Retaliation After Petitions

The resident said locals have repeatedly sought investigations by local authorities. Some have also traveled to Beijing to petition central regime authorities, but their efforts have yielded no results.

Petitioning is an administrative procedure in China to raise complaints to the authorities for redress of grievances. However, in practice, petitioners are routinely suppressed and persecuted for their dissent. 

The resident alleged that some who raised complaints subsequently faced retaliation.

Zhong Chengfu, a villager, was prosecuted for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” an ambiguous charge frequently used by the Chinese regime to target petitioners and dissidents, after traveling to Beijing to report the alleged problems, according to the resident. Zhong was sentenced in September to four years, three months in prison.

Another villager, Zhong Chengliang, was taken away by police on Oct. 10 and detained for seven days after visiting the local petitioning office, the resident said. 

The Epoch Times attempted to contact the Qianhewan Community and local authorities by telephone, but the calls could not be connected.

Gu Xiaohua contributed to this report.