Advisers call for more quality, less speed
Source: Xinhua |
July 17, 2013, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINESE political advisers yesterday warned about the risks of sacrificing quality of urbanization for speed.
Members of the national political advisory body were discussing the problems and risks of the country's fast urbanization at a special meeting in Beijing.
As of last year, about 52 percent of Chinese people lived in urban areas, up from 20 percent some 30 years ago.
The same process took about 100 years in Britain and 60 years in the United States.
"Problems that had occurred in different stages of urbanization in these developed countries have mixed together in China due to the speed of growth," Wang Guangqian said.
He said the situation was more complicated and harder for the government to manage.
The country had undergone several rounds of "construction craze" and should avoid history repeating itself in the future, Wang said.
"Especially, we should be wary of local governments pushing forward urbanization driven by blind pursuit of economic growth figures."
Advisers called for more focus on quality. In some places, urbanization was simply the development of real estate projects and industrial parks, said Justin Yifu Lin, a former senior vice president with the World Bank.
Several advisers stressed the importance of developing small cities and townships. China's urbanization has been unbalanced as big cities and megacities have expanded by 30 to 50 percent over the past few years but small towns have grown slowly, said Li Yuefeng.
Governments of these small cities and townships should be given more power and independence to seek a development pattern based on local conditions, instead of being pushed to grow bigger, said Zhu Yongxin.
Lai Ming said that migrant workers, although living in cities, had not become real urban residents in terms of social security, employment and children's education.
Further policy reforms were needed to help them and their families settle in cities and take a more active part in city life, Lai said.
Advisers also called for more attention to environmental issues in cities, including food safety and air and water quality.
Members of the national political advisory body were discussing the problems and risks of the country's fast urbanization at a special meeting in Beijing.
As of last year, about 52 percent of Chinese people lived in urban areas, up from 20 percent some 30 years ago.
The same process took about 100 years in Britain and 60 years in the United States.
"Problems that had occurred in different stages of urbanization in these developed countries have mixed together in China due to the speed of growth," Wang Guangqian said.
He said the situation was more complicated and harder for the government to manage.
The country had undergone several rounds of "construction craze" and should avoid history repeating itself in the future, Wang said.
"Especially, we should be wary of local governments pushing forward urbanization driven by blind pursuit of economic growth figures."
Advisers called for more focus on quality. In some places, urbanization was simply the development of real estate projects and industrial parks, said Justin Yifu Lin, a former senior vice president with the World Bank.
Several advisers stressed the importance of developing small cities and townships. China's urbanization has been unbalanced as big cities and megacities have expanded by 30 to 50 percent over the past few years but small towns have grown slowly, said Li Yuefeng.
Governments of these small cities and townships should be given more power and independence to seek a development pattern based on local conditions, instead of being pushed to grow bigger, said Zhu Yongxin.
Lai Ming said that migrant workers, although living in cities, had not become real urban residents in terms of social security, employment and children's education.
Further policy reforms were needed to help them and their families settle in cities and take a more active part in city life, Lai said.
Advisers also called for more attention to environmental issues in cities, including food safety and air and water quality.
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