A district government has undertaken an "extravagant face lift" in a Changsha neighborhood by putting paint on outdoor walls or covering them with decorative tiles, repaving roads and replacing fences with steel rails, charges a former Party official.

Zhu Shangtong, who retired as deputy secretary of the Changsha Party committee in Central China's Hunan province 23 year ago, posted a public letter online on Tuesday, saying the government is "pursuing quick success at the cost of the public interests".

"The local government is only thinking about how to make the city look good quickly enough to win in an impending competition to be deemed a 'civilized city'," Zhu told China Daily on Monday.

In the letter, Zhu said what he had seen in Huoxing community in the city's Furong district suggested the renovation was proceeding along these lines: Walls facing streets were painted or decorated with tiles, fences were replaced with shoddy steel rails, and the limestone sidewalks in a new vegetable market were dug out because their sizes and colors do not meet the standards set by urban planners.

In addition, the steel bars that had protected the windows of homes above the third floor had to be replaced with invisible and expensive alarm systems.

Restaurants, karaoke bars, vehicle-repair shops and other small stores were removed from certain main streets, leaving residents without the services those businesses provide, the letter said.

"Such a superficial renovation, meant to temporarily deceive higher officials and paid for by taxpayers, must be stopped," Zhu said.

In response, the local government deemed Zhu's letter as being "not objective".

"This renovation was not decided on in a moment's time and is not a face-lift project," according to a letter the Huoxing community sent to China Daily.

The project "will improve people's livelihoods", the letter went on to say.

It said the projects in Furong and three of the city's other districts cost about 80 million yuan ($12.3 million) and the expenditure of that money will be audited.

Li Wei, head of the Furong district, told reporters on Sunday that the renovation began in 2005 and is in accordance with the district's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015).

Li said the work is not directly connected to Changsha's attempt at being deemed a "civilized city" and is merely a project the district government has long been undertaking.

Local residents hold mixed views toward the renovation, which brings inconvenience to their lives yet burnishes the city's appearance.

"We have to put up with the inconveniences, since this is intended for everyone's future good," said Liu Peiyu, a local college student.

Zhu, for his part, believes a public hearing should have been held before the project began. That would have prevented citizens' rights from being infringed upon and public money from being wasted.