Reforms seen as key to success of China’s long-delayed urbanisation blueprint

Beijing's long-delayed urbanisation blueprint, which aims to move about 100 million people from rural areas to cities by 2020, will require complex reforms, analysts say.

The full text of the plan released on Sunday night showed that Beijing wants to raise the proportion of urban residents to about 60 per cent of the total population by 2020, from the current 53.7 per cent. The proportion of people registered under urban households is targeted to rise to about 45 per cent from 36 per cent over the same period.

China's goal remains far below the average urbanisation rate of about 80 per cent in developed nations, but boosting the rates requires an intense effort to overhaul the fiscal, land, and social welfare system, analysts say. The plan is designed to spawn a consumption-driven, greener growth model in a shift from the old pattern, which was typified by heavy capital spending and high environmental costs.

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Qiao Runling, a vice-director at the China Centre for Urban Development under the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said: "The blueprint centres on moving migrant workers into cities, transforming [the] growth model to low-carbon and green development, and improving the structure of cities."