{"id":170761,"date":"2014-03-26T14:20:51","date_gmt":"2014-03-26T21:20:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=170761"},"modified":"2014-03-26T19:16:19","modified_gmt":"2014-03-27T02:16:19","slug":"can-chinas-ambitious-new-urbanization-plan-succeed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2014\/03\/can-chinas-ambitious-new-urbanization-plan-succeed\/","title":{"rendered":"Can China’s Ambitious New Urbanization Plan Succeed?"},"content":{"rendered":"

China’s leadership has put much energy into\u00a0renewed urbanization efforts that will have 60 percent of the country’s population living in cities by 2020<\/a>, and last week details of the new “people-centered” urbanization plan surfaced:\u00a0shantytowns are to be redeveloped, transportation infrastructure overhauled to ease relocation<\/a>, and the controversial hukou\u00a0<\/em>system to be liberalized<\/a>\u2014at long last. Bloomberg Businessweek reports on the price of China’s new urbanization plan, and rounds up comments on the new strategy<\/strong><\/a> from high in Beijing’s bureaucracy:<\/p>\n

China has finally put a price tag on its massive plan for urbanization, and it\u2019s a big one. The cost of bringing an additional couple of hundred million people to cities over the next seven years? Some 42 trillion yuan ($6.8 trillion), announced an official from China\u2019s Ministry of Finance last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe flaws in the previous model, in which urban construction mostly relied on land sales and fiscal revenue, have emerged in recent years, and the model is unsustainable,\u201d\u00a0warned<\/a>\u00a0Wang Bao\u2019an, vice minister of finance, on March 17. His comments came one day after China\u2019s State Council and the Central Committee of the Communist Party released the\u00a0\u201cNational New-type Urbanization Plan (2014-2020),\u201d<\/a>which aims to lift the proportion of Chinese living in cities to 60 percent by 2020, from 53.7 percent now.<\/p>\n

[…]\u00a0\u201cUrbanization is a powerful engine for China\u2019s sustained and healthy economic growth, said Lou Jiwei, Chinese Minister of Finance in a\u00a0news release<\/a>\u00a0on March 25. \u201cWe need to accelerate reform of the fiscal and tax system as well as investment and financing mechanisms,\u201d he said, citing the need for private investment into public infrastructure projects using the public-private partnership model. [Source<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The many challenges to urbanization<\/a> have been well noted. CBS News asks how likely Beijing’s ambitious and expensive plans for urbanization are to succeed<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n

How realistic is this plan, with its\u00a0reported price tag\u00a0<\/a>of $6.8 trillion? China has performed economic wonders before. The nation’s adoption of a market economy, starting in the late 1970s, helped to lift\u00a0500 million Chinese\u00a0<\/a>out of poverty over the ensuing decades.<\/p>\n

[…] “If managed well, urbanization can create enormous opportunities, allowing innovation and new ideas to emerge, saving energy, land and natural resources, managing climate and the risk of disasters,” Sri Mulyani Indrawati, managing director and COO of the World Bank,\u00a0noted Tuesday<\/a>\u00a0at a conference in Beijing.<\/p>\n

“Globally, almost 80 percent of GDP is generated in cities,” she continued. “It will be difficult for any country to reach middle-income status and beyond without getting urbanization right.”<\/p>\n

But getting that right also means a dramatic shift in governmental and financial policies. China’s economic growth has been fueled by investment, rather than productivity. And the nation’s recent urbanization has relied on land conversion, which has led to social unrest by rural residents whose land has been expropriated. Urban sprawl has also caused an alarming increase in pollution. […] [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sri Mulyani Indrawati’s above quote came from her opening statement at the International Conference on Urban China<\/a>\u00a0in Beijing this week, which coincided with the release of Urban China: Toward Efficient, Inclusive and Sustainable Urbanization<\/a>, <\/em>a joint report from the\u00a0World Bank and the Development Research Center of China’s State Council. The Huffington Post has excerpted key points from Ms. Indrawati’s speech on “new urbanization,”<\/strong><\/a>\u2014the sustainable and inclusive approach that the report recommends for China:<\/p>\n

China needs a new path to greater urbanization that will be efficient, inclusive and sustainable. Through better allocation of land, labor, and capital this new model can share the benefits of urbanization more widely than in the past. And it can be environmentally sustainable while ensuring China’s food security.<\/p>\n

This is why we call it ‘New Urbanization.’<\/p>\n

In this new model the government will have a different role. It will support rather than supplant market forces. It will allow China’s cities to grow more organically and efficiently. New urbanization is not merely about bricks and mortar. It puts people at the center of the strategy.<\/p>\n

New urbanization must be affordable and it will be. On current trends, China’s cities would spend some $5.3 trillion on infrastructure over the next 15 years. But with more efficient, denser cities China can save some $1.4 trillion in infrastructure spending — or 15 percent of last year’s GDP.<\/p>\n

New urbanization requires a comprehensive package of reforms, recognizing that the issues are closely intertwined. They have to be addressed comprehensively: Piecemeal reform will not solve the problems. […] [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Also see the World Bank’s short video on “new urbanization”:
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