Half of China to live in cities by 2010: Report

BEIJING, Nov 7: Chinese officials have forecast that by 2010 half of China's 1.3 billion people will be living in cities, threatening environmental damage, straining resources and exacerbating wealth disparities, state media reported today.

China, currently accounting for 40 percent of global cement consumption and 30 per cent of steel consumption, would need a ''huge'' amount of resources, the China Daily said, citing Vice-Minister of Construction, Qiu Baoxing.

''The country cannot afford to make any mistakes in its urbanisation policy. It has to make very prudent decisions, based on learning Western countries' lessons and experiences,'' Qiu said.

About 13 million rural people flooded cities every year, mass migration which would place a huge strain on city infrastructure, Shan Wenhui, director of the Centre for Urban Studies at Fudan University, told the paper.

Chinese officials estimate the population of migrant workers has reached 150 million, or 11.5 percent of the population, doubling over the past decade as millions of rural residents flock to the cities to take part in the country's economic boom.

''Besides resource consumption, urbanisation brings a lot of problems, such as the widening wealth gap between urban and rural areas, environmental damage, the lack of a social security for unemployed migrant workers and heavy pressure on transport networks.

REUTERS