"How could I imagine the slums of the past would be turned into such beautiful scenery in the space of just a few years?" exclaimed Wang on his recent return to the site of his old home.

Now living in a newly-built commodious apartment in Pudong, Wang, a retired local engineer, is reluctant to recall his past living here over seven years ago.

"I lived here for 40 years, we were all packed together like sardines," Wang said.

Wang, 58, a local Shanghai resident in the city's northeast Yangpu District, lived in his 70-year-old slum house that was built by older generations of his family in the 1920s together with his parents and three children for some 40 odd years.

Dream of living better

"It was my one dream for over 40 years," said Wang in reference to his longing to own a better and more spacious home.

In the following interview Wang describes for Shanghai Star the experience of living in "shui-shenhuore" or "living in deep cold water in the winter and next to a fire in summer" before 1994.

"At that time, it was really a hard time for us; if it rained my room would flood," recalled Wang, adding that sanitation and personal care facilities were also very bad.

Wang never stopped hoping he would one day be able to move out.

"But with all my neighbours around me in the same boat, and none of us finding a way out, my hopes began to fade."

And more than 30 years passed with everything remaining the same until the official launch of the city's "365 Project" - a construction project aiming to dismantle all the city's 3.65 million square metres of slum houses and temporary shacks within 10 years.

Chosen among the first beneficiaries of the "365 project," Wang was overwhelmed with excitement.

"My dream was finally realized thanks to the "365 Project".

Aims of project

Yin Houjun, a spokesman with the local house and land administration, said the project had two main aims: improving the living standards of citizens and bettering the city's overall investment environment.

"Being the largest and most populous city, and traditionally the largest industrial base of the country, it was inevitable that major issues concerning quality of life would arise in our city," said Yin.

But the former planned economy, together with limited funding, meant that housing was often pushed to the bottom of the agenda.

The "reforms," however, changed all that; as the standard of living gradually improved, the dream of better accommodation slowly became an achievable one.

The city's need to improve its investment environment to suit the vision of Shanghai as a booming global city was also a major consideration in implementing the project, said Yin.

In 1992, the municipal government set the end of the year 2000 as a deadline for the demolition of all 3.65 million square metres of the city's old slum houses and temporary shacks, and the relocation of their inhabitants.

"When I first heard the news on TV, I dared not believe it," Wang told Shanghai Star.

"But when my neighbours began being moved to adjacent or faraway, tall buildings, I began to be persuaded," Wang smiled.

Countdown to a new city

"Most of our objectives had been accomplished by the end of 1999," said Qin Yi, president of the office overseeing the 365 Project in Yangpu District, one of the city's 10 most populous districts.

There were also high concentrations of illegal shacks and buildings in disrepair in Hongkou, Zhabei, Putuo, Changning and Nanshi districts.

Yangpu District had demolished a total of 720,000 square metres of undesirable dwellings by the end of 1999, said Qin.

Qin said the remaining part - 165,000 square metres - also the hardest part to crack should now be finished before the end of this year.

"These last 165,000 square metres account for some 61 per cent of the city's total remaining dwellings soon-to-be knocked down," said Yin.

Yin said lack of funds has been a major obstacle for the project's managers.

"Input from the municipal government alone is definitely not enough," said Yin.

To speed things along, preferential policies in support of the project were hastily passed.

These helped lure more commercial investment from both domestic and international sources, and have ensured the project be seen through to its end.

Overseas developers have been granted rights to develop certain of these slum areas.

And the influx of the loans from banking sectors has also been a great aid to the smooth expansion of the project, said Yin, adding that Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (SPDB) has recently inked a deal with Yangpu District to provide a total of 100 million yuan ($12 million) in loans for the project.

And all the citizens who have been moved out of the slum areas have been assigned new apartments in new communities with improved facilities.

At the same time, most of the industrial plants which had been causing serious pollution have been removed to neighbouring suburbs.

What were once slums are now avenues, elevated highways, tall buildings and public greens.