Southern Metropolis Daily
July 17, 2008

When construction began in 2004 on the new municipal service center of Chengdu, capital city of Sichuan province, the project repeatedly drew criticism for being overly extravagant. The government nevertheless insisted that it has the approval of the State Council.

The service center, which cost over 1.2 billion yuan, is a cluster of seven buildings centered around a dome shaped structure, which resembles the National Theater in Beijing.

On July 16, the Chengdu government called a press conference to announce that the service center will be auctioned to raise money for reconstruction work in ares destroyed by the recent Wenchuan earthquake.

Municipal service center of Chengdu

He Zhanghua, the director of the Chengdu publicity department, said,"Times are difficult, people's lives are difficult...the earthquake has changed the basis upon which we make decisions." Li Chunchen, Party secretary of Chengdu, commented that the decision demonstrates the government's willingness to stand by the people through the hard times.

Government offices that have already moved to the new service center will move back to their original sites. It is said that the center will likely be sold to companies for commercial use.