Beijing's first government-subsidized rental apartment building will be ready in March 2012. [Photo/Beijing News]

The roof on Beijing's first government-subsidized rental apartment building is in place, the Beijing News reported Monday.

Eligible low-income earners need to take part in a lottery program before moving in. The building near Beijing's North Fifth Ring Road, consisting of 500-plus apartments, will be ready in March 2012, according to the Beijing News. The building still needs to be decorated.

Wang Weiguo is a project manager with the Ya Tai Urban Construction Group Co Ltd – the company in charge of construction. He said his company is working carefully to ensure the building's quality, according to the Beijing News.

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Selected tenants can live either in one- or two-bedroom apartments. The area of the one-bedroom apartments ranges from 44.19 to 48.22 square meters. The area of two-bedroom apartments ranges from 63.34 to 64.46 square meters.

There will not be a parking lot for tenants to park cars, but there is a garage underground for bicycles.

This 28-story building is 800 meters away from the nearest subway station, and it looks like an average commercial residential building.

Beijing will start the lottery program for a total of 10,000 public rent apartments as early as the first quarter of this year.