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President Hu Jintao (second from left, front) talks to the
employees of a pre-fab house factory in Langfang, north China's Hebei Province,
on May 25, 2008. Hu visited two factories that had received orders for 19,500
pre-fab houses, urging them to produce as many as possible to meet the needs of
the quake survivors. [Xinhua]
LANGFANG, Hebei -- China's top
leader, Hu Jintao, has pledged to maintain sound development trends and
safeguard social harmony and stability, stressing: "Focus on the current
earthquake relief, on one hand, and economic and social development, on the
other."
The president and general secretary of the Communist Party of
China (CPC) Central Committee made the call during his Sunday visit here to
inspect two local companies that make pre-fabricated housing.
The
president, who visited tent manufacturers in Zhejiang Province three days
earlier, has shown great concern over the resettlement of people affected by the
powerful earthquake that has claimed at least 62,663 lives.
The
government has allocated special funds to build 1 million temporary apartments
for more than 14 million people whose houses were damaged in the 8.0-magnitude
earthquake and its aftershocks over the past two weeks.
When he was in
Langfang, which is close to Beijing, the president was accompanied by Hebei CPC
chief Zhang Yunchuan and Governor Hu Chunhua. The two factories he visited have
received orders to produce 19,500 pre-fab houses within a short
time.
During his stay, Hu was shown around so that he could learn about
these temporary dwellings. He thanked the factory workers on behalf of the CPC
Central Committee and the State Council (cabinet), while highlighting the
importance of manufacturing housing for survivors.
"Go all out and try to
complete the order early, so as to support the earthquake relief work with
substantial efforts," he told the workers.
At the end of his trip, Hu met
with local officials and company leaders.
The earthquake caused enormous
losses of life and property, and the CPC Central Committee, the State Council
and the Central Military Commission have mobilized all Chinese in the emergency,
both military and civilians, the president said.
Saying it was a
difficult, urgent task to get all the affected people properly re-settled, Hu
urged the factories to overcome all difficulties to complete the contracts and
give top priority to quality.
He also called for strenuous efforts to get
the homeless re-settled as soon as possible and urged government departments at
all levels to ensure the supply of raw materials, parts and finance to housing
contractors.
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