The development of rural areas and urbanization should be
closely linked and well coordinated, a veteran development
strategist said yesterday.
Guo Shuqing, a member of the Chinese People's Political
Consultative Conference (CPPCC),
said the building of the "new socialist countryside" and
urbanization are two sides of the same coin.
Pursuing the two courses separately would not bring any change
to rural areas; rather, it would lead to a waste in land and other
resources, he said.
Guo, chairman of China Construction Bank (CCB), was a
key architect of China's economic restructuring in the 1980s and
1990s and a prominent development strategy commentator after he
became vice governor of the in
2001. He took up the CCB post last year.
Guo said China's urbanization has been lagging behind economic
development. Agriculture now accounts for a mere 12 percent of
China's economic output, but about 60 percent of Chinese population
are still farmers.
"The pace of urbanization must be accelerated," he said.
Urbanization needs a well-advised approach, Guo said. Rural
areas that have become industrialized should follow the path of
urban planning. This means they need adequate infrastructure, such
as roads, electricity and sewage systems.
Otherwise, they would remain closed communities far away from
modern life; and residents' lifestyle would stay unchanged even if
they were financially better off, Guo said.
He cited Huaxi Village, in east China's
Jiangsu Province, as an example.
The village has become one of China's richest through its
industrial enterprises with 30 billion yuan (US$3.7 billion) in
annual sales revenue. Villagers live in modern villa-style houses
but it does not have an urban sewage disposal system.
On the other hand, not all villages should be equipped with
urban infrastructure, he said.
"Decisions must first be made about which village would be
urbanized," he said.
Building infrastructure in some remote, undeveloped areas would
be very expensive; so people in those places should be
relocated.
(China Daily March 6, 2006)