Chongqing’s Yunyang County, the Three Gorges Smart Cold Chain (International) Logistics Port project invested and constructed by Zhongnong Group, has come to a standstill, leaving 1,500 property owners with a total investment of 400 million yuan in purchasing shops, leading to a loss of their hard-earned money. Hundreds of property owners who tried to protect their rights were suppressed.
On June 30th, Yunyang County government gathered more than two hundred shop-buying property owners, who chanted slogans demanding the government to either push for project completion or refund their money. However, the property owners’ rights protection action was met with police repression, leading to physical clashes, during which three property owners were arrested.
Mr. Li, one of the property owners involved in the rights protection activities, revealed to a reporter that there were over two hundred property owners present on the 30th, with about thirty to forty police officers arresting three property owners. He mentioned trying to block the police car but felt powerless due to the overwhelming police presence.
Another property owner, a pseudonym being Fang Bing, stated that government officials instructed them to go to the petition office for assistance, but the petition officers did not address the issue effectively despite multiple visits. One property owner was injured and sent to the hospital for treatment during the physical clashes with the police, but no one paid attention to the injuries.
Fang Bing mentioned that on the 30th, the government claimed to supervise the developers to complete the project as soon as possible, but she noted that although there was some construction activity on-site, it involved very few workers who seemed lackadaisical in their approach.
The project was supposed to be delivered by June 30th of the previous year but has been delayed for over a year now, leaving it in an unfinished state.
According to Fang Bing, the project comprises a total of 1500 shops, each approximately 28 square meters in size. Each property owner paid around two to three hundred thousand yuan in full for the purchase. Fang Bing runs a convenience store business and chose to invest in a shop because, in 2023, having some money on hand and not gaining interest by storing in a bank, investing in shops would also yield rental income for the future to support retirement.
Mr. Li mentioned that given that the project was initiated by the county government as a livelihood project, and with Zhongnong Group solely responsible for operations while property owners would just receive rental incomes, many property owners, mostly store owners from rural areas, were attracted to make purchases.
Reported by mainland media, the Three Gorges Smart Cold Chain (International) Logistics Port project initiated construction in July 2021 with a total built-up area of around 200,000 square meters, consisting of three functional areas: smart cold chain logistics, agricultural product trading center, and urban-rural common distribution center. Once completed, it will become a crucial cold chain logistics hub serving the northeast Chongqing, radiating the western Hubei region and southern Shaanxi region.
In mid-July 2022, the project began attracting investments and hosting centralized signing activities for merchants to join. During the event, several county leaders including the Yunyang County Party Secretary, Deputy Secretary, County Magistrate, along with officials from Zhongnong Group attended the event, showing substantial support for the project.
Despite being a significant livelihood project, it ended up in an unfinished state, as Mr. Li revealed that during the rights protection process, property owners discovered that 200 million yuan out of the total 400 million yuan investment had gone missing, allegedly misappropriated by the developers.
When contacted, neither Yunyang County government nor Zhongnong Group responded to calls from the reporter.
Fang Bing stated that the property owners’ primary demand is for the government to refund their money. Given the current economic downturn, the uncertainty of the completed shops’ operational success makes this request seem impossible. She also mentioned that it’s unrealistic to expect the government to refund the money and that property owners can only hope for the project to resume entirely and be delivered soon.
“We did suggest the government to foot the bill and refund the property owners, but it’s impossible, unrealistic. They won’t give you the money back, and when the shops are not completed, what can you do?” Fang Bing said.