Business news for Mon, 24 Dec 2007 & with words projects+report. 2 news.

THE Shanghai housing authority yesterday put forward nine residential plots of about 810,000 square meters for bidding and another 12 plots partly for residential development, Oriental Morning Post reported today. A total of 4.5 million square meters for residential development has been provided within this year, pushing the year-round total to the highest in recent years. The city has drastically boosted the number of plots for housing projects in the past two months since the government began to hand out land for housing in September, said the report. The plots are in seven districts, including Hongkou, Yangpu, Baoshan and Fengxian, as well as in Chongming County. Nearly 50,000 housing units smaller than 90 square meters will be built in the next two years, accounting for 70 percent of the total residential properties, the report said. The authorities cleared a batch of undeveloped buildings in July and increased a 27 million-square-meter area for constructing small

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Japan's Cabinet on Monday approved a 83 trillion yen ($728 billion) budget for the 2008 fiscal year, according to a published report. The Associated Press said the draft budget is 0.2% higher than fiscal 2007 -- a second consecutive year of increases. The budget increase is due in part to higher social security payments, which are offsetting declines in defense spending, overseas aid and public works projects, the AP said.