By intern reporter Li Wei Ao 

City government officials in the capital of earthquake-jolted Sichuan Province announced July 16 a plan to sell their lavish, controversial office compound and use the proceeds to help quake victims who lost homes.

The promise by the government of Chengdu came after a magnitude 8 temblor May 12 claimed more than 70,000 lives, mainly outside the capital.

The pledge also followed a public uproar over the office project after the earthquake caused tens of billions of yuan in economic damage in Chengdu and nearby counties, destroying more than 1 million homes.

He Huazhang, who heads Chengdu’s propaganda department, said at a recent press conference that the property would be “properly sold” and the money used for accommodating homeless victims and rebuilding. He did not say how the compound would be sold, however, nor at what price.

City workers were in the process of moving into the 1.2 billion yuan, lotus-inspired office compound when the earthquake struck. The compound’s first new tenants had arrived in March after three years of construction.

The seven, major buildings and land carry an estimated value of more than 2.5 billion yuan. In addition, interior luxuries abound. Caijing learned from an official Web site on government expenditures that 1.7 million yuan was spent on dinnerware and kitchen appliances alone.

Most buildings are arranged in a semi-circle like lotus petals, and a main building in the flower’s heart resembles the Bird’s Nest national stadium built for the Olympics in Beijing.

Critics of the complex grew vocal after the earthquake by, for example, privately questioning the project. Some faulted local bureaucrats for working in architecturally elaborate offices while Sichuan children attended shoddily built schools that collapsed in the quake, killing thousands.

But the government’s decision to sell the compound may have been motivated by more than public pressure.

Caijing learned that the move to the new offices began without prior approved from the State Council, China’s cabinet, as required. A Chinese administrative regulation says all governments above county level must submit office moving plans to the council.

1 yuan = 14 U.S. cents