China must continue drive to upgrade public services

While China continues on its urbanization fast track, the country has to provide equal access to basic public services and build a unified urban-rural social security system.

Chinese and foreign experts made the observation at an international conference on urbanization, held by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences on Sept 25.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the population of Chinese migrant workers reached 262 million by the end of 2012, but they do not receive equal treatment as urban residents in many ways, including employment, children's education, social security and housing.

"Considering the reality of China, the government will try to turn migrant workers to urban residents in 20 years and ensure that the identity changing process and urbanization are in step," said Wei Houkai, deputy director of the Institute for Urban and Environmental Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

China's urban population will hit 990 million in 2030, up from 630 million in 2010. Urban migrants will account for 40 percent of the total population in Chinese cities by 2025.

Efforts to turn these migrants into city residents will drive a huge domestic demand and increase the costs of human resources, said Jonathan Woetzel, senior partner with McKinsey & Company.

During the process of urbanization, the government should make every effort to reduce the consumption of natural resources. Currently, if the Chinese urbanization rate - the proportion of people living in urban areas - rises by 1 percentage point, the country's coal consumption will increase by 875,800 metric tons of coal equivalent and natural gas by 80,800 tons of coal equivalent. Such an extensive model of urban development must be replaced by a sustainable new model, said Li Peilin, vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.