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Top Chinese advisers have warned that although rapid urbanization
contributes significantly to the country's economic growth, it can
also cause major "growing pains" for cities.
Authorities must plan for a city's sustainable development to avoid
problems such as pollution and poor public security, said Li
Youwei, member of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese
People's Political Consultative Conference, China's top advisory
body.
Li
made the remarks at the second plenary meeting of the ongoing first
session of the 10th National Committee of the CPPCC over the
weekend. Thirteen committee members aired their views on issues
ranging from economic growth and urbanization to environmental
protection.
Li
said that, compared with towns, cities are able to absorb more
surplus rural laborers.
Cities have more capacity to create jobs in service industries for
rural laborers and to provide better education, he said.
China has entered a period of rapid urbanization, with experts
predicting that 1.12 billion people - or 70 percent of the total
population - will live in cities by 2050. More than 600 million
Chinese people will shift from rural to urban areas in the next 50
years.
By
then, China will have 50 major cities, each with a population of
more than 2 million, 150 large cities, 500 medium-sized cities and
1,500 small ones.
At
present, China has more than 660 cities and 19,000 towns and its
urbanization rate stands at 36 percent.
Li
said there was an urgent need to better manage China's urban
infrastructure projects in order to reduce duplication in
construction.
Zhu Shuhao, also a CPPCC member, said the development of
labor-intensive industries, such as agricultural products
processing, tourism, service and manufacturing industries, was a
practical way of creating jobs.
"The employment of rural laborers should be at the top of the
agenda," Zhu said.
Statistics indicate that China's farm workers return about 100
billion yuan (US$12.1 billion) in income to their hometowns each
year. As the economy develops, the number of migrant laborers will
also inevitably rise.
Zhu suggested that small satellite cities or towns, based on
leading industries such as sports, entertainment or tourism
sectors, should develop around big cities.
Experts predicted that 7-8 million rural surplus laborers will be
absorbed by small cities and towns each year in the future.
(China Daily March 10, 2003)
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