On August 21, the Chongqing municipal government reviewed a
draft guideline concerning the social and economic development of
northeast Chongqing area.?The final document will be published
soon after government approval, an official with the Chongqing
Development and Reform Commission said in early September.
An important part of the guideline outlines the mass relocation
of people from the northeast area into the Chongqing city proper or
its Wanzhou District.
The northeast region covers 11 districts and counties in the
Three Gorges Reservoir area.
This is the second mass relocation in the reservoir area. The
first one was initiated over ten years ago to make way for the
giant Three Gorges Dam Project, begun in 1993 and designed to
generate electricity and contain floods on the lower reaches of the
Yangtze River. The government relocated a total of 1.13 million
people.
This time the number of relocated people would more than double
that figure to 2.3 million. The relocation would help bring down
the residential population in northeast Chongqing to 7 million.
Reduced population would make it possible to ecologically
safeguard the dam area and create an important ecological barrier
inside the Yangtze River basin.
During the first relocation, most migrants resettled by just
moving to a higher altitude after their properties were inundated
by rising water. Citizens roamed the mountain and hillside regions,
inadvertently damaging the nearby ecosystem and causing serious
soil erosion, according to Zhang Xueliang, a member of the
Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political
Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
Population density in the reservoir area is 302 people per
square kilometer. This is 2.1 times the national level and 4 to 5
times higher than figures in similar regions, thus far exceeding
the proper level. Per capita land possession is less than 1
mu (666.667 square meters), leaving the
contradiction between land and population another burden on the
environment, according to an official research group's
investigation on the second relocation.
Restored charm of the Three Gorges area, as a result of less
population pressure, could attract millions of tourists there and
create a much-needed cash cow for the poverty-stricken
residents.
The relocation could also help to raise resource use efficiency,
intensify land use and increase investment returns, said Chen Yue,
a member of the relocation research group.
CPPCC member Zhang also echoed Chen in this regard. "Most people
have gone to the city proper or coastal provinces to make a living,
but they still hold on to their land ownership," he explained.
"This has blocked intensive farming, making it difficult for
agricultural production to improve."
Some experts have suggested using administrative means for the
second relocation. Lan Yong, a history professor at Southwest
University and an expert on the Three Gorges issue, is one of them.
He said: "The government should issue a compulsory command for the
relocation in order to ease population pressure around the dam area
and to readjust the irrational economic structure there."
However, Chen and his research team pointed out several
disadvantages with administrative means. "One is high cost; another
is that the immigrants may not acclimate easily to city life and
form new interpersonal relationships, so they may migrate back to
the dam areas," Chen said. "And the biggest problem is that they
may grow too dependent on the government about their life and
employment."
After careful consideration, the standpoint of a
government-guided, market-targeted and voluntary-based relocation
was advocated.
To implement the relocation based on this principal, the
municipality has framed a "one circle, two flanks" growth pattern.
One circle refers to a city cluster that includes areas within
"one-hour vehicle travel" distance into the city proper. The two
flanks refer to northeast and southeast Chongqing.
The municipality intends to absorb the surplus labor force from
the two flanks by developing the one circle.
The government has designated some industrial parks and
enterprises inside the circle. Immigrants and migrant workers from
the dam area will be given certain rewards and tax incentives if
they work inside the city proper.
"This second relocation program will integrate the transfer of
rural labor force into the urbanization and industrialization
process," said Miu Wei, an official with Chongqing Development and
Reform Commission.
According to Miu, the government is now planning the relocation
of some outstanding migrant workers and some township residents
into the city proper.
Xu Suhuan, vice director of the economic commission in Wanzhou
District, an area designated for immigrant relocation, nodded his
agreement. "Wanzhou's current residential population is 1.5
million; it will not be a problem for it to absorb another
300,000."
However, he still had some concerns for the elderly immigrants,
and was urging the government to work something out for them.
Some experts suggested channeling the money earmarked for
high-cost investment in the dam area into financing basic social
security for the new migrants so that they could establish a
stable, long term home.
Some areas in Chongqing are also piloting a land-for-social
security program to steer farmers to surrender their land and seek
a new life in the city.
Experts are studying other issues: public education, supply of
low-rent and affordable housing, etc. These additional problems
demand resolution if a successful relocation is to be achieved.
(China.org.cn by Yuan Fang, September 18, 2007)?
