New measures aim to ease integration for migrant workers
China will integrate rural residents into cities by granting household registration to migrant workers and by upgrading city clusters in eastern regions, said a statement issued Tuesday after the Central Urban Work Conference concluded on Monday.
The last central urban work conference was held 37 years ago, the Guangzhou-based 21st Century Business Herald newspaper reported Tuesday.
The four-day Central Economic Work Conference - a key meeting for policymakers to lay the growth blueprint for the following year - which also concluded on Monday, pledged to provide assistance for rural residents seeking to buy homes in urban areas and to encourage property developers to lower prices.
Shang Jiaowei, senior researcher at the Institute for Urban and Environment Studies with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the urban work conference could help ensure the sound development of urbanization in the years ahead and also boost the slowing economy.
"China is now under a new normal of slower growth, so an urban work conference is necessary," Shang told the Global Times on Tuesday, adding that international experience "indicates that the pace of urbanization tends to slow down once it passes the 50 percent level."
After the meeting in 1978, China began a period of rapid economic growth and urbanization. Currently, the number of permanent urban residents in China accounts for around 55 percent of the total population, compared with less than 20 percent in the 1970s, the Shanghai Securities News reported Thursday.
Urbanization work will focus on integrating rural residents into cities by granting household registration to migrant workers who have lived and worked there continuously, the statement said.
"Only 1 percent of migrant workers can afford to buy an apartment in the cities where they work, and an even smaller number can afford to buy a home in a first-tier city such as Beijing," Shang said, noting that on average over 10 million people settle down in Chinese cities every year.
In China's urbanization plan for 2014-20, the government estimated that the proportion of permanent urban residents would reach about 60 percent of China's total population by 2020. The plan was unveiled by the State Council, China's cabinet, in March 2014.
However, about 250 million people in the current urban population of 750 million do not hold a hukou, or household registration permit, according to government data in November.
"Policy support, such as giving migrant workers the same benefits for buying affordable housing, could help this group," Shang said, noting that the nation's blueprint is a guideline and will require local governments to roll out respective measures.
The local governments must invest, and property developers must also support the policy, Shang said.
All cities should utilize their advantages in resources and location, and support local industries, the statement said.
"Some city clusters lack the ability to accommodate industries and provide jobs and attract larger populations, so redeployment and optimization are needed," said Zhang Gui, deputy director of the Center for Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Development Research at Hebei University of Technology.
"Industrial optimization dictates the rebalancing of population patterns," Zhang told the Global Times Tuesday.
"The integration of city clusters includes traffic, industry, the environment and smart technologies," Zhang said, noting that it will take a long time to tackle environmental challenges, on the basis of historical precedence.
The statement also emphasized the importance of safety in China's city development and management, and said the government plans complete renovation of shantytowns and underdeveloped urban areas by 2020.
