China has earmarked 4 billion yuan (US$586 million) from the central budget this year to help renovate dangerous rural houses, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-rural Development said in a guideline released on Thursday.

According to the guideline, jointly issued by the ministry, Ministry of Finance and National Development and Reform Commission, about 800,000 poor rural households across the country would benefit from the project. Each households could get 5,000 yuan in subsidy.

In 2008, 29,455 rural households benefited from the project.

According to the guideline, each of the 15,000 rural households in northeast, northwest and north China under a pilot project to build energy-conservation houses, would get an additional 2,000 yuan for subsidy, the ministry said.

(Xinhua News Agency June 5, 2009)