Construction on Shenzhen Metro Line 2 is expected to begin next month as its land acquisition project nears completion, the Nanshan District relocation office said yesterday.

Buildings covering more than 300,000 square meters in the district will be demolished to make way for Line 2, according to the office.

Some 1 billion yuan (US$130 million) will be given as compensation to the affected property owners, accounting for 15 percent of the Metro project's total investment, the office said.

The 14-kilometer Metro Line 2, which will run between Window of the World, the high-tech industrial park, Sea World and the Shekou ferry terminal, will benefit tens of thousands of residents in the district.

Line 2 passengers can also reach Futian and Luohu districts after transferring to Line 1 at the Window of the World station.

Bao Changhan, director of the district's relocation office, said more than 20 shops near Sea World and 10 residential buildings need to be demolished before next month.

Some business and industrial centers in Shekou were also [OR WILL BE?] affected.

"We had a lot of trouble in land acquisition," he said, saying that the office had resorted to legal aid to move "nail house owners" who refused to be relocated, apart from offering them compensation.

The 7-billion-yuan Line 2 is expected to be finished before May 2009 with 11 stations.

More than 1 million square meters of buildings will be demolished in Nanshan District to make way for Lines 1, 2 and 5, all of which will run through the district.

A total of 470,000-square-meters of area has been cleared in Nanshan this year for construction on an extension of Line 1, which will extend from Window of the World to the airport.

The land acquisition project for Line 5, which also runs through Nanshan, is expected to begin later this year.

Editor: Yan