The past decade has seen the largest number of government-subsidized housing projects and the highest amount of relevant investment in China. Hundreds of millions of people have realized their dream of having their own home. We regard accelerating the building of a housing support system as an important task to meet the basic housing needs of the people. The housing support system has been continuously improved. The construction of government-subsidized housing has been steadily advanced, the rebuilding of run-down urban areas has been vigorously implemented, groups benefiting from the housing provident fund have gradually been expanded, and the housing support capacity has been continuously enhanced. Over the past 10 years, the country has invested 14.8 trillion yuan in building various types of government-subsidized housing and rebuilding 59 million housing units in run-down urban areas. Low-income families with housing difficulties have been basically covered, and more than 140 million people have realized their dream of having their own place to live.
The past decade has seen the fastest development in China's real estate industry and a real estate market which is increasingly better regulated. The living conditions of the people have been significantly improved. We have been adhering to the principle that "houses are for living in, not for speculation" and implementing city-specific policies and classified guidance to promote the stable and sound development of the real estate market. We put in place a long-term mechanism for the development of the real estate market and are ensuring that municipal-level governments shoulder the primary responsibilities, supervised by provincial-level ones. We have established and improved the real estate market supervision system, and unswervingly kept the prices of land and housing as well as market expectations stable. In the past 10 years, the scale of housing supply has continued to increase. The sector sold a total of 13.23 billion square meters of commercial homes during the period, up 2.2 times from the previous decade, with better construction quality, more amenities and improved living environment.
The past decade has seen changes to China's urban development paradigm and significant improvements to the quality of development. Cities have become healthier, safer and more livable. Adhering to "one respect, five coordinates," we put the people's living conditions in the first place, leave the best resources for the people, improve the ability to meet people's basic living needs and provide public services, and promote intensive and green development. Efforts have been made to explore a high-quality urban development path with Chinese characteristics. In the past 10 years, urban functions have been continuously improved, the urban living environment has been significantly upgraded, and the urban governance level has been markedly enhanced. In 2021, China's percentage of permanent urban residents reached 64.72%, built-up areas of cities covered 62,000 square kilometers, 98% of urban residents had access to gas, and 99.4% to water supply. The green area rate of urban built-up areas reached 38.7%, and the per-capita area of green parks reached 14.87 square meters. People now enjoy more convenient, comfortable and better lives in cities.
Over the past decade, China has made huge efforts to develop rural areas, greatly transforming their look and giving rural residents a stronger sense of gain, happiness, and security. Fully implementing the tasks of eliminating poverty and comprehensively promoting rural revitalization, we have vigorously renovated dilapidated houses in rural areas, advanced rural development, improved the living environment there, and strived to build scenic and livable villages. A total of 23.42 million registered poor households nationwide have had access to safe housing, securing a historic victory in ensuring safe housing for impoverished rural residents. More than 50,000 beautiful villages with distinctive local features have been built, and more than 90% of household waste in villages has been collected, transported, and treated. A total of 6,819 villages of vital conservation value have been included in the list of traditional Chinese villages, and 520,000 traditional buildings, including cultural relics, historical buildings, traditional dwellings, temples, and ancestral halls, have been protected, developing the largest heritage conservation program of agrarian civilization with the richest contents and greatest value in the world.
Over the past decade, China has transformed and upgraded its construction industry and been marching from a major builder toward a strong builder. China's construction has continued to change the country's look. We have deepened the reform to streamline administration and delegate power, improve regulations, and upgrade services in the construction industry, as well as reform the examination and approval system for construction projects. We have improved supervision systems and mechanisms, strengthened quality and safety management, optimized the business environment, and promoted the coordinated development of smart construction and new types of building industrialization. In the past decade, the construction industry has played a more solid role as a pillar industry of the national economy and has become more modernized, with project quality steadily improving. In 2021, the total output value of the construction industry reached 29.3 trillion yuan, 2.1 times that of 2012; the value added reached 8 trillion yuan, accounting for 7% of GDP; and the industry created more than 50 million jobs. A number of world-class landmark projects, such as the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the Beijing Daxing International Airport, have been completed, demonstrating China's strong comprehensive national strength.
The past decade has witnessed remarkable achievements. Fundamentally, all of these are attributed to the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core and the scientific guidance of the Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. All of these are owed to the wisdom and sweat of builders in the new era and to the mighty strength of people from all sectors of society to build better urban and rural areas and realize their dream of having access to decent housing. Standing at a new historical starting point, we will focus on the central task of the Party on a new journey in the new era, keeping in mind the shouldering and fulfillment of our responsibilities, and striving for new advances in promoting the high-quality development of housing and urban-rural construction. By doing so, we aim to make greater contributions to realizing the second centenary goal of building a modern socialist country in all respects, and paving the way for a successful 20th CPC National Congress with impressive achievements.
Thank you.
Shou Xiaoli:
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