On the morning of November 11, the Center for Housing Policy Studies, Fudan University received the delegation of the Indian Ministry of Housing at our School. The delegation was led by Mrs. Aruna Sundararajan, Joint Secretary & Mission Director of RAY, the Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation. Other members included Swarnashree Rajasekhar, Director of Housing, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Gautam Chatterjee, Principal Secretary of Housing, the Government of Maharasthra, Vaibhav Galriya, Project Director, Rajasthan Infrastructure Development Project, and Doctor Kimberly M. Noronha, a social development specialist.

The Delegation of Indian Housing Ministry visits the School

Associate Professor Jie CHEN, Executive Director of the Center for Housing Policy Studies, warmly welcomed the delegation of the Indian Ministry of Housing. Then he gave a brilliant speech titled “Public Housing in China and Its Impacts”. He said that as the two most populous countries in the world with the fastest developing economies, China and India both face the challenge of serious housing shortages. The plan on constructing 12 million units of low-price housing that India is preparing to launch has a lot in common with the plan on constructing 36 million units of affordable housing between 2011 and 2015 and increasing the coverage of affordable housing to 20% by 2015 announced by the Chinese government. China and India should learn from each other and draw on each other’s experience about public housing, avoid following the wrong direction, and find the roads of public housing development most suitable for them as soon as possible.

Jie CHEN also introduced the background and course of China’s urban housing system reform, the basis of the current urban housing system, the basic framework of China’s public housing and historical experience. He focused on introducing the current situation and planning of Shanghai’s affordable housing, especially the promulgation and implementation of Shanghai’s public rental housing policy. The delegation of the Indian Ministry of Housing was very interested in Shanghai’s public rental housing model, and discussed issues such as how to construct and manage public rental housing and how to raise funds in depth.

Then, Doctor Qianjin HAO, Vice Director of the Center for Housing Policy Studies, made some additional remarks. Wei WANG, a doctor of management of Tianjin University and a lecturer at the Department of Land Resources Management of Tianjin University of Commerce on an academic visit to the Center, also introduced the situation of affordable housing in Tianjin and the effect of the affordable housing policy. After the lecture, Jie CHEN presented a gift on behalf of the School of Management and the Center to the Indian delegation. After the meeting, both sides also reached an agreement on the matters of future academic and professional exchange and cooperation.

November 22, 2011