Complete urbanization promotes a healthy economy

The conference of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee on Dec 4 has set the tone for some important economic policies for the approaching economic work conference of the Central Committee. According to the conference, China's economy will probably get a boost from its fast urbanization process next year, says an article in Beijing Youth Daily. Excerpts:

It is estimated that at least 400 million farmers will leave villages for the urban areas as permanent residents living on non-agricultural jobs in China from now until 2020, for which as much as 8 trillion yuan ($1.27 trillion) in infrastructure investment will be needed, and from which a large number of jobs will be created. A huge amount of sustainable development will be released in the process of urbanization.

China's urbanization has been going on for about 20 years. Now 50.1 percent of Chinese people live in urban areas, though only about 60 to 70 percent of them boast household registrations in the city and enjoy the welfare of city residents, which is a lot better than it is for those in rural areas.

However, some local governments have mistakenly understood the urbanization process as requiring a rapid expansion of infrastructure construction. The economic stimulation of land financing pushed this concept to extremes. In the past five years, many Chinese cities and counties witnessed fundamental changes in their appearance. Skyscrapers, squares, landmark buildings and various commercial real estate projects replaced old neighborhoods.

But the divide between city residents and migrant workers, who may work and live in cities far from their hometowns for years, remains in the field of social welfare and public services, despite the same modern environment they share.

These phenomena suggest China's urbanization is not complete because it counts only the people who live in the city, but not the people who actually have residence rights.

The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly set the goal of improving the quality of urbanization in China by 2020. It means the central authority has noticed how serious the problem is, as local governments become addicted to the profitable land-transfer business while not caring about the migrant workers who live and work in cities. To some extent, the incomplete urbanization has distorted the relations between newcomers and longtime residents.

China should improve the professional level of city planning and social governance. Economic growth is only one, if not the most, important part of development. Building constructions are easier to come by than the design of welfare institutions. A healthy urbanization may not take modern buildings, but fair systems to eliminate the artificial unfairness that are forced upon newcomers.

An incomplete urbanization is in essence overdrafting the rights and welfare of the migrant workers to boost short-term economic growth. The benefits at almost no costs from land transfers for local governments only justify this overdraft process as the only possible means to maintain the former city-village structure in a new form in the cities that appear inclusive, but have xenophobia in their blood.