World Bank-State Council study urges priority on China land reforms

Beijing must put land reforms at the top of its agenda to turn more rural people into city dwellers, a joint study on the mainland's new urbanisation model launched by the World Bank and the Development Research Centre of the State Council said.

Beijing could afford the costs brought by its urbanisation plan for the next two decades if it could make the necessary policy adjustments to resolve distortions in the way of resources allocation, officials from the two institutions said yesterday at an international conference.

A book titled will be published after final rounds of discussions on the study launched 15 months ago.

The government laid out a framework for the country's grand migration plan this month, targeting to have 60 per cent of its 1.3 billion population live in urban areas by 2020 from the current 53.7 per cent as part of efforts to boost consumption and productivity.

But in-depth discussions and debates continue as Beijing seeks to map out the details of the plan.

Mulyani Indrawati, the managing director and chief operating officer of the World Bank, said the joint study suggested a new urbanisation model with "sustainability, inclusiveness and efficiency".

Mainland cities are to spend US$5.3 trillion on infrastructure over the next 15 years. But with more efficient, denser cities, China could save US$1.4 trillion in infrastructure spending - or 15 per cent of last year's gross domestic product, Indrawati said.