Mobile phone numbers and rent price are painted on the makeshift containers at a construction site near Jintai Road, Chaoyang district of Beijing. (Photo/Chinanews.com)
(ECNS) -- Temporary shelters for workers at a construction site near Jintai Road, Chaoyang district, Beijing, are empty and set to be removed, a few days after a report on the "container life" of farmer-turned-migrant workers in the capital on June 23.
The makeshift containers, with one holding a dozen workers, are rented for six yuan (0.9 dollars) each per day.
The workers said that following the report their boss handed out over-the-counter medicine to offer relief from the summer heat, and even let them move to makeshift houses equipped with air conditioners. For those still living in the containers, the number of workers per container was reduced to eight from the previous more than ten, and the boss promised to install air conditioners.
However, when reporters visited the site again on Monday afternoon, these containers were all empty.
A person in charge of the construction site said that the Balizhuang sub-district had demanded that they dismantle all the containers before Monday evening.
According to a notice pasted on the containers, the ongoing project was launched by the Chaoyang district commission of housing and urban-rural development, with the aim of improving the earthquake resistance and heat retention of more than ten old residential buildings in Hongmiao Beili. The contractor of the renovation project was the Beijing Uni-Construction Group.
An urban development official with the Balizhuang sub-district said the containers were meant to be used as shelters for construction workers who worked night shifts. However, they had become too crowded to be free of safety and security risks, it was added.
An official with the Chaoyang district commission of housing and urban-rural development said the containers would be removed soon because the project was coming to an end.
Attempts failed on Monday to reach the general contractor's contact person, surnamed Wang.
A worker said on Monday evening that the project would be finished in two days and that the workers had moved to a temporary shelter nearby at the cost of their boss, but he gave no details on the workers' living conditions.
