Gov´t helps business recover from riot losses

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Source: CCTV.com | 03-20-2008 08:44

Special Report:   3.14 Tibet Riots

China's Industry and Commerce Administration says a total of 822 businesses were attacked in the March 14th riots in Lhasa. So far, losses add up to more than 200 million yuan, or about 28 million US dollars.

Ren Xianjun and his partners have run a shopping mall on Lhasa's Beijing Road for more than 5 years. They wholesale foodstuffs and daily commodities to the entire autonomous region and lease stalls to local retailers. Everything in their three-storey building went up in smoke during the riots.

Environmental workers sent by the municipality are helping  clean up.

Ren Xianjun said, "It's not easy running this kind of business. We all have big families to feed, and we have loans from the bank. This has really hit us hard. We hope to get all the help the government can give us."

The shopping mall is owned by a multi-ethnic partnership. The riots are over, but now they have to rebuild.

Ma Jincai said, "Yesterday people from several government agencies came to see us. And they brought a thousand yuan for each of the retailers in the mall."

Yun Deng said, "The government has provided lots of help for the business people who suffered from the riot. Yesterday they met with us and the retailers, to see what they can do at the moment to get the shops running normally."

The local Industry and Commerce Administration sent staff to  help clean up and calculate the losses.

Director of Lhasa Industry & Commerce Admin., said, "It's hard work to help so many shop owners restore their businesses quickly, but both the business people and we are confident things will improve. "

And things should get easier in three or four days when repairs to power and communications facilities are finished.

 

Editor:Zhang Ning