Transcript: Press conference on new urbanization plan

Xinhua News Agency: I have two questions. First, in this year's government work report, it stated we need to propel the new urbanization plan that puts human first and addresses three major tasks, each involving 10 million people. I would like to know how these tasks will be carried out. Second, what is the difference between the urbanization in the West and in the East? What are the focal issues?

Xu Xianping: Let me take your questions. This issue was much discussed at the two sessions. The first task, involving 100 million people, is to allow 100 million rural residents to settle down in the urban areas by 2020, according to the plans. The new generation of migrant workers, born in the 1980s and 1990s, has topped 100 million; more than 50 million migrant workers have resided in the city for at least five years and some 55 million migrant workers have moved into the cities together with their families. By 2020, the number of migrant workers and their relatives who reside in the urban area will amount to some 300 million. The first task at hand, involving 100 million people, is the first one to be completed and this figure occupies one third of the total. This is a very doable and necessary task.

As Vice Minister Huang Ming has just said, the urbanization rate of registered households will by that time be raised to some 45 percent from the current 36 percent. It will help unlock potential domestic demand, help resolve the issues regarding the countryside, agriculture and farmers, as well as help maintain social stability.

The second task, involving another 100 million people, is to improve the living conditions of about 100 million people through the renovation of shanty towns and villages in city.

Qi Ji: I would like to add something. Vice Minister Xu just spoke about the issue of the household registration of 100 million people in rural areas. The second task involving another 100 million people basically indicates that a lot of urban residents still live in shanty towns and villages in city. The premier has said in this year's government work report that we cannot allow high-rise buildings to stand on one side with a shantytown located right on the other side. There are still a few shanty towns left in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, and even more in the country's central and western regions. As a result, the report outlined the task to move some 100 million people out of these shanty towns.

I would like to brief you on some of these tasks. Since the implementation of the 12th Five-Year Plan, the affordable housing project has been launched -- maybe you have noticed this. We aim to build 360 million units of affordable housing over the next five years, more than 40 percent of which are situated in shanty towns. More than 240 million units were under construction by the end of 2013, and for the remaining two years, 6 million more will be completed each year.

The government put forward the task of renovating more than 10 million shantytown homes between 2013 and 2017. In 2013, the first year of the new government's administration, we actually already renovated 3.23 million homes. This year, we set the target at more than 4.7 million. You can do the math yourself. Adding up both years, we have updated roughly 8 million of these neighborhoods. This government still has three more years to go. According to the arrangements made by local governments, we can increase this number from 10 to 15 million, which is a goal this government can achieve. This mega shantytown renovation project started off in 2008.

The year of 2012 was a milestone year, and 2017 will be yet another milestone year. By the end of 2012, the renovation of 12.6 million shantytown homes had been completed and this figure is set to reach some 27.6 million if this government can attain its aim of 15 million. We plan to complete this large-scale shantytown renovation by the end of this government administration, by 2017 that is. Moreover, for those remaining shanty towns and so-called "inner-city villages," there are as of yet no detailed plans in place, but a general plan does exist. In 2018, 2019 and 2020, we can at least renovate more than 10 million shantytown and "inner city village" homes. Counting the 10 million, together with the 12.6 million already completed and the 15 million to be completed by 2017, we can come to a total of 37.6 million. If we can move 37.6 million households out of shanty towns and into modern residences, can we then complete the task of moving 10 million people out of t shanty towns and "inner-city villages"?

Xu Xianping: Vice Minister Qi provided a great response to the questions. The plan will take the renovation of shanty towns and "inner-city villages" as a long-term endeavor and formulate a special action plan with a step-by-step implementation.

The third task involving 100 million people, meaning 100 million people in China's central and western regions, will be guided to obtain residency in nearby cities. In 2012, the urbanization rate in the eastern region was 62.2 percent, and in the western region was 44.8 percent, with a 10-plus percentage gap between them. As the Strategy of China's Western Development and the plans for the rejuvenation of central China have taken root, the conditions for development in the central and western regions have improved remarkably. The areas have geared up their industrial transfer projects, increased their abilities to support labor market and left more room for urbanization. In key areas for development in central and western regions, set aside by the plan as main functional zones, we will foster the development of new city clusters and enable them to grant some 100 million farmers full citizenship in the localities. In doing so, it will be of great significance to the progress of regional coordinated development, the maintenance of ethnical unity and the safeguarding of sovereignty safety.

As for the development issue of the central and western regions you mentioned, please note one passage in the plan. Since the central region is the main food-production area, the western region is a water conservation and key ecological functional area, the job of propelling urbanization in those regions should eliminate the existing extensive and low-efficient pattern and focus on farmland conservation, water conservation and pollutant emission control along a green, low-carbon and eco-friendly urbanization path. The dreafting of the plan has taken the issue into consideration,so the task of fostering city clusters in key development zones, planned by main functional zones, is defined according to the capacity of their resources and environment. Thank you.

Yang Zhiming: The rapid increase in the number of migrant workers in central and western China has become a new trend. I will give you some statistics. Last year, the number of migrant workers in the east decreased by 0.2 percent, but increased by 9.4 percent in central China and 3.3 percent in western China. In other words, the eastern region witnessed very slow growth, and some years even negative growth, while the central and western regions witnessed rapid growth. Although wages in the central and western regions were 10 percent less than those in the eastern region, their appeal to workers stemmed more from the proximity of a working place, low living costs and convenience for taking care of the family. This is partly facilitating the reasonable labor flow between eastern, central and western regions, as well as improving the labor conditions and care for migrant workers. Just now, Vice Minister Xu spoke about the new generation of migrant workers, born in the 1980s and 1990s. They are currently in their twenties and thirties, young, educated and energetic, and can breathe life into to the new urbanization plan.