国内英语新闻:China to renovate 5.8 million homes in 2018

BEIJING, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- China will renovate 5.8 million dilapidated homes in 2018 to speed up urbanization.

The country started renovation of 6.1 million homes in 2017, more than the target of 6 million, according to Wang Menghui, minister of housing and urban-rural development.

Total investment reached 1.84 trillion yuan (280 billion U.S. dollars) for the year, he said.

Authorities should increase the supply of public rental housing and offer them to poor families and groups including sanitation workers, young teachers and migrant workers.

China plans to renovate 15 million homes from 2018 to 2020, according to official document released earlier this year.

The plan was part of efforts to fulfill the government's promise to rebuild rundown areas with a combined total of 100 million residents.

The transformation has remained a priority for the government in recent years. In the past eight years, more than 80 million people with poor living conditions moved out of rundown areas and into new homes.