(Economic Observation) Accelerate the urbanization of agricultural transfer population, and speed up China's new urbanization

  China News Agency, Beijing, July 12 (Liu Wenwen Shi Wenshuang) The National Development and Reform Commission of China issued the "14th Five-Year Plan" New Urbanization Implementation Plan (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan") on the 12th, clearly accelerating the urbanization of agricultural transfer population and deepening the The reform of the household registration system, liberalization and relaxation of household registration restrictions except for a few megacities, and the trial implementation of the household registration system based on the place of habitual residence.

  In the past ten years, China's new urbanization construction has made a series of major historical achievements: 130 million agricultural migrants and other permanent residents have settled in cities and towns, and the urbanization of agricultural migrants has achieved remarkable results.

By the end of 2021, the urbanization rate of the national permanent resident population will reach 64.72%, and the urbanization rate of the registered population will increase to 46.7%, greatly improving the level and quality of urbanization.

  Today, the government has again mentioned accelerating the urbanization of agricultural migrants and relaxing the restrictions on settlement. What is the significance of continuing to promote new urbanization?

  Cai Zhibing, an associate professor of the Economics Teaching and Research Department of the Central Party School (National School of Administration), told China News Agency that with the steady increase in China's urbanization rate, the rapid urbanization process in the past few decades has basically ended, and more attention needs to be paid to the quality of urbanization in the future.

Relaxing household registration restrictions and allowing rural residents to truly integrate into the urban system are key factors in determining the quality of urbanization.

  "At present, urbanization has entered a critical period of improving quality. In this context, relaxing the restrictions on household registration will continue to narrow the gap between the urbanization rate of the registered population and the urbanization rate of the permanent population, improve the quality of urbanization, and release China's domestic demand to the greatest extent. potential." Jia Ruoxiang, director of the Comprehensive Research Office of the Institute of Land Development and Regional Economics of China's National Development and Reform Commission, said in an interview with China News Agency.

  China has a large number of agricultural transfer population, and the urbanization of agricultural transfer population is the primary task of new urbanization, and it is also the inherent requirement of new urbanization with people as the core.

In Cai Zhibing's view, accelerating the urbanization of agricultural transfer population will undoubtedly promote the development of new urbanization in the direction of depth.

  On the one hand, promoting the urbanization of agricultural transfer population is the proper meaning of high-quality transformation of urbanization.

Cai Zhibing analyzed that the past urbanization strategies paid too much attention to the urbanization of industrial structure and land space, which was actually a deviation from the "people-centered" new type of urbanization.

  On the other hand, promoting the urbanization of agricultural transfer population has also pointed out the direction for the high-quality development of cities.

Cai Zhibing pointed out that for a long time, the degree of sharing of urban development in China has not been enough. Although a large number of agricultural migrants have made great contributions to urban development, they have not enjoyed the benefits of modern urban economic development.

"In this context, promoting the urbanization of agricultural transfer population requires urban development to coordinate and handle multiple tasks such as employment, household registration, and public goods, which puts forward higher requirements for urban governance capabilities and modernization of governance systems, and also points out that the future urban high The direction of quality development.”

  This "Plan" clearly deepens the reform of the household registration system, and lifts the restrictions on the settlement of various cities in different stages. What is the purpose?

  Feng Kui, deputy director and researcher of the Central Economic Committee of the Democratic League, analyzed China News Agency that in the long run, free movement of population is the general trend.

However, in the short-term and medium-term, the policy level to appropriately divert and adjust population flow mainly takes into account the practical conditions such as infrastructure and public service resources, and there are also many reasons for the rational distribution of resource elements in the region.

  "Release the restrictions on household registration by gradient, which further clarifies the policy main line and future direction of 'releasing', and at the same time takes into account the actual development of the city." Feng Kui further analyzed that at present, small and medium-sized cities, third- and fourth-tier cities are low thresholds or low-level cities to settle down. Achieving the zero threshold, while mega, megacities and some large cities still have different requirements for settlement thresholds.

At the national level, the "Plan" emphasizes further reducing the requirements for settlement, which is conducive to forming a consensus on solving problems in various departments and regions and promoting problem solving.

  In addition, accelerating the urbanization of agricultural migrants and deepening the reform of the household registration system will undoubtedly further promote urban-rural integration.

  In Jia Ruoxiang's view, an important manifestation of the duality between urban and rural areas is to rely on the social security system of duality between urban and rural areas in the household registration system, deepen the reform of the household registration system, relax the restrictions on settlement except for a few megacities, and try to register the household registration with the place of regular residence. The system will effectively promote the mutual promotion of industry and agriculture, complementarity between urban and rural areas, comprehensive integration and common prosperity, further narrow the gap between urban and rural areas, and promote a breakthrough step in the integrated development of urban and rural areas.

(Finish)