In an attempt to alleviate conditions caused by the massive influx of people after the Xiomeran civil war, the Xiomeran government has announced that it will implement an involuntary internal relocation of up to ten million citizens.
Dubbed the “New Cities Project”, the program was initially voluntary and provided incentives and assistance to recent immigrants from Huenya. Up to 13 million people of Xiomeran ethnicity are believed to have moved to Xiomera from Huenya after the civil war, rather than live under the new government in what had been the western portion of the Xiomeran Empire. Since then, Xiomera has seen skyrocketing housing costs and overcrowding in its major cities. At the same time, much of the surrounding countryside and small towns battled a completely different problem – underpopulation and lack of industry due to most Xiomerans preferring to live in metro areas.
The “New Cities Project” is an ambitious program to repopulate dying small towns and rural communities, as well as building entirely new cities, in the Xiomeran countryside. Most new arrivals from Huenya, however, did not choose to participate. The government is therefore implementing a change where anyone who moved to Xiomera from Huenya postwar, with few exceptions, will be required to take up residence in one of the communities that is part of the New Cities Project. Incentives will continue to be offered for housing, transportation and moving costs; the program will simply no longer be voluntary. Relocations are expected to begin in August 2023, and continue through the end of the year.
“This decision is a hard and painful one, but it is necessary in order to prevent homelessness and struggling in our major cities, and to ease the burden on overcrowded infrastructure, schools, medical facilities and housing,” Empress Calhualyana told the nation in a televised address declaring a state of emergency and implementing the relocations. The Ministry of Security, Ministry of Loyalty, and Ministry of Infrastructure, Development and Planning will work jointly to implement the relocations.
The government is also touting the relocations, and the project overall, as a way to “turbocharge” the development of rural areas and smaller communities, thus boosting the Xiomeran economy. Remote work will be prioritized as well, giving people a chance to work in high-demand jobs while living outside metro areas. Despite all this, and even in a country like Xiomera where protest or dissent are strongly punished, the relocations are expected to spark significant opposition.
