The key challenges facing Beijing?s development over the next ten years have appeared in an authoritative report. They include rapid population growth, an influx of incomers, an ineffective control of land for urban construction, systemic difficulties in the residential registration system and delays in resettlement from the city proper to the outskirts. The report was released by the Beijing People?s Political Consultative Conference Standing Committee.
Beijing?s Population to Reach 16 Million
The Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics has issued figures for last year. They show the number of incomers, staying in the capital for over six months, had reached 2.63 million. This means the number originally planned for the year 2010 has been exceeded already!
The influx has put considerable pressure on the resources and environment of a city that already has a large indigenous population to support. Pressure has been mounting on employment, public transport and infrastructure alike.
The capital?s outlying towns and villages are also experiencing growing problems in housing, education, the environment and social security.
By the end of 2001, Beijing had a total population of 13.67 million and newcomers been a major factor in the explosive growth this represents. The Bureau now estimates there could be as many as 16 million living in the capital by 2008, the year of the Beijing Olympics.
Registration System Difficulties
The report by the Standing Committee describes problems in the management of the capital?s system for the registration of residents. It points to the effects of inconsistent policies and the absence of a single unified authority. These are seen as militating against an effective redistribution of population away from the city proper and into the outskirts.
Last year alone the population of Beijing grew by some 120,000. This compares with an increase of just 63,000, the average figure of population growth in the past 10 years.
Another problem is that both the registration policies themselves and the implementation of these policies have failed to keep pace with the speed of change. In the last decade Beijing has seen rapid development in the replacement of old unsatisfactory housing stock coupled with reforms which have introduced new mechanisms of market forces.
As a result many Beijing citizens are not living in their registered place of residence as required by law. By the end of 2001 some 1.6 million citizens were no longer in their registered residence creating significant difficulties for the management of the registration scheme.
Slow Pace of Relocation from the Old City
The standing committee also reported difficulties in the timely and effective relocation of population from the old city proper to new housing provision in the outskirts. The municipality had stepped up its efforts to redevelop the old city. Unfortunately this had not coordinated seamlessly with population movements and infrastructure developments.
Beijing still faces intense population pressure and demands on its infrastructure. Redevelopment of run-down housing stock is inhibited by the number of relocated residents trickling back to their old areas while construction work is still ongoing. Other problems holding back the process are to be found in the huge challenge of providing all the necessary new housing, public transport and infrastructure required in the resettlement areas.
All this has led to population movements not meeting targets. Public transport in the old city proper is still under obvious pressure and the environment of the city is suffering.
Suburbs Providing Housing But Not Jobs
The plan is to move the focus of development away from the city proper to the outskirts. However there is a lack of the necessary diversity in schemes being brought forward. The developers tend to favor affordable housing and the residential real estate sector generally. All too often they do not include the industrial and commercial developments necessary to provide employment opportunities locally or the infrastructure to support the new residents. Consequently there is a daily flood of commuters from the suburbs to the city proper placing additional pressure on employment, education and of course public transport.
Proposals
The standing committee while highlighting the problems, has also offered suggestions as to how the municipality might work to overcome them. The key points were:
Comprehensive planning should be made for the employment, housing and other needs of incomers moving to the capital.
There should be a new single mechanism to manage residential registration. It should differentiate between rural and urban dwellers according to their professions.
A public land resource exchange market is proposed. This would promote redeployment of state-owned land through public bidding at auction.
There is a proposal for the gradual introduction of a system to acquire land to make it available for development purposes. This would improve regulation of the market in development land and promote better use of underdeveloped sites.
(china.org.cn by Alex Xu, October 29, 2002)
