2016 major achievements in urbanization

2016-12-20
english.gov.cn

Premier Li Keqiang said urbanization should serve the people. In 2016, the State Council put more efforts in  promoting new urbanization, from hukou reform, reconstruction projects in rundown areas to infrastructure construction.

Reconstruction Projects in Shantytowns

The 2016 government work report said  that China planned to reconstruct  6 million housing units in rundown urban areas with an improving ratio of compensation-based resettlement. According to  data released by the Ministry of Housing, 5.77 million units are under  reconstruction, accounting for 96 percent of the annual target.

According to a document jointly issued by the Ministry of Housing and Ministry of Finance in April, reconstruction projects in shantytown areas should be exempted from administrative charges and government funds. In addition, except land and demolition compensations, these projects will also be subject to tax deduction or exemption.

Affordable Housing Projects

On June 3, the State Council issued a circular regarding the plan to boost the residential rental market aimed at improving urban residential housing conditions.

Residential rental market suppliers, including house-leasing companies, real estate developers, housing intermediary agencies, and individual owners, are encouraged to play a role in the market.

Preferential policies will be carried out for market suppliers and tenants to solve urban housing problems and encourage residential rental consumption.

Hukou Reform

The State Council  released a circular to urge rolling out plans to grant hukou to rural migrants living in urban areas with steady jobs.

According to the circular, the urbanization rate of household registered population will rise an average of 1 percent each year, or more than 13 million people, during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020).

By 2020, urbanization rate should reach 45 percent, a 2 percent drop from 2013 in the difference between urbanization rates of registered population with hukou and permanent residents.

Plan to promote ‘Urban Passes’

According to a  circular issued by the State Council on June 3, non-residential tenants who have local residence permits should enjoy local public services such as education and health care.

In addition, the State Council also urged efforts to improve rural infrastructure, build beautiful livable villages,  and promote the urbanization of rural migrants by offering  permanent residency and equal access to public services.

Stable development of property market

The State Council issued a guideline on Feb 6 to promote the construction of a new type of urbanization.

According to the guideline, the government should build a system to guarantee people's different housing needs based on the market as well as government support. Public-rent houses or subsidies should be granted to low-income families to ensure their basic housing needs.

Market’s decisive role in property market

The guideline on Feb 6 also targeted further improving  housing and financial services for lower income groups by  establishing a more efficient residential land supply system and optimizing the structure of housing supply.

Related departments should strengthen  regulations on the  commercial housing market, allowing the market to play a decisive role. The guideline also said  local governments should encourage migrant workers to purchase houses in small and medium cities near their workplace.

More governance on city planning

According to the guideline issued by the State Council on Feb 6, efforts should be stepped up to strengthen urban underground infrastructure, and reconstruction of the current grid and communication lines.

The guideline also urges speeding up construction of underground pipelines through shantytown renovation, river pollution treatment, and subway construction.

Comprehensive transportation networkThe Feb 6 guideline also urged efforts to speed up building a comprehensive transportation network in urban areas, and push forward the joint development of public transportation such as buses and subways.

Related departments should also further promote the utilization of charging stations to boost the development of new energy cars.