China steps up small town construction

Chinese Minister of Construction Wang Guangtao told a national conference in Beijing Thursday that China would speed up small town construction with certain priorities, and various types of trade, tourism and agriculture-based small towns would be helped to be established in the impending future.

The development of Chinese small towns was one of the most important national strategies to boost rural economic and social development, Wang said, noting that active but prudent promotion of the small town construction could help prevent vast rural population from rushing into cities.

However, the construction minister noted that the establishment of small towns should have certain priorities, stressing that some key villages and counties with good economic foundation should be put on the first line of the name list.

Wang also said the urbanization progress should be made in a humanistic, comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable manner, urging Chinese local authorities to explore and make use of natural resources in a rational way, exert efforts to preserve cultural resources and to harmonize the economic growth, development of human beings, natural resources and environment.

Wang highlighted the co-development of metropolises and medium-and small-sized towns, saying the big cities should play a leading role in promoting the urbanization of city-intensive areas.

China would introduce more market mechanism into the small town construction process, an official with the Ministry of Construction said, adding that funds of various types would be allowed to invest in Chinese village construction soon.

The investment, no matter whether it comes from enterprises or individuals at home or abroad, would be very welcomed to the infrastructure construction sectors of Chinese villages and small towns, the official said, revealing that a franchise system would be launched soon to attract social investment.

Statistics from the Ministry of Construction show that by the end of 2002, there were 660 cities and 20,600 administrative towns in China, totaling a population of 502 million.

From 1978 to 2002, the level of urbanization in China increased from 17.92 percent to 39.1 percent, with an increase of 21.18 percentage points, and the annual growth rate was 0.88 percentage points, two times the world average level of the same period, the official statistics added.

Source: Xinhua