The State Council is considering setting up a centralized department to oversee China's large migrant population.

The department would serve as the main authority to coordinate the flow of millions of migrants across China.

"To have an authority working on migration issues has been on the government's agenda for a long time," said Pang Chenmin, deputy director of the disaster relief department of the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

Pang said the timetable had not been set.

The idea of creating a State-level government organization for migrant affairs was raised in the 1990s. Currently, various ministries and industries handle such issues.

Pang said a State-level department would enhance the government's efforts to control migrant flows.

Given the large migrant population, the deputy-director said a centralized department would be crucial in mapping out policies and laws.

He said that migrants' rights and interests would be protected and that they would enjoy all the benefits offered by the government.

Shi Guoqing, director of the National Research Center for Resettlement, the only such center in China, said that the sharp increase of migrants had created many challenges, including compensation, social and economical integration and security issues.

The migration population in China has grown to about 70 million due mainly to large-scale urban construction and water reservoir projects, Shi said.

For instance, the construction of 8,600 water reservoirs in the country led some 22 million people to resettle. New factors such as environmental pollution and poverty have also forced residents away from their hometowns.

Apart from the large number of involuntary migrants, he also pointed out that the new department on migration issues would be useful because the number of internal migrants continues to rise each year.

(China Daily April 5, 2007)