China to push urbanization reform

SHANGHAI - China will enhance reforms in the management of population data, land, funding guarantees, housing and environmental protection to boost the urbanization process, according to a senior official from the country's top economic planner.

Xu Shaoshi, minister in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said Saturday that the rapid urbanization process in China has created problems, such as a huge population transfer from rural to urban areas and low efficiency in urban land use.

The NDRC will push forward reforms in the management systems for population, land, capital, housing and ecology to upgrade the urbanization path.

The work in population management will accelerate household registration system reform, improve basic public services and build a nationwide population database, Xu said.

The standard of urban land use and planning will be strictly complied with, while the NDRC will explore incentives for increasing and redeveloping urban construction land.

Fiscal and tax reforms will balance government financial resources with public service duties and attract more social capital for city construction through a transparent investment and financing mechanism and healthy bond issuance system, Xu said.

More affordable housing will be provided for basic housing requirements, while the market will play a bigger role in satisfying different consumption needs, according to the NDRC.

Meanwhile, the NDRC will continue to improve ecological urban design and industrial structure with stricter regulations on environmental protection in order to upgrade green development.