Beijing urbanization: the scope of the plan

konjaku: this article says that the long term plan is eventually to make a large portion of the villagers affected by the urban rural unification plan into city residents with the attached benefits. However, “over 1 million” is still less than half of the total.

In Beijing 100,000 displaced villagers will within this year become city residents, eligible to receive old age care and welfare

Source: Jinhua Times, 2011-02-24

http://www.ciudsrc.com/new_xinwen/yaowen/2011-02-24/9882.html

Living in tall buildings, going to work at a company, getting paid a salary…this will become the life of the former villager in Beijing city. This year, more than 100,000 villagers who have gone through the “demolish, build, transfer” process, will at the appointed time turn into city residents. The project to demolish the 50 “focal point” villages and move the residents is occurring at a quick pace –eight villages have already been demolished. This year, continuing to draw lessons from the experience of Beiwu and Dawangjing, Beijing’s urbanization of its urban/rural periphery will proceed forward at a rapid pace, with villagers moving into upgraded residences.

A person involved in the project revealed that, according to the initial calculations, within the 900 administrative villages in the unincorporated areas on the periphery, including the 11 outer suburbs of Beijing, eventually approximately 850,000 villagers will become urban residents. In addition, in the future, small towns will be built, and 1,150,000 villagers will move into these towns and become city residents. It is projected that in the next several years or perhaps longer, among the 2,700,000 villagers currently living in the Beijing area, over 1,000,000 will become true city dwellers, with the same public services and welfare benefits.

10 villages are in a pilot project to “on the spot urbanize” So-called “on the spot urbanization” means. the village will directly be transformed into a public housing complex with all the infrastructure provided. The village social management structure will change, the environment will change, the buildings and real estate will change, social services will improve. Finally, the villagers will not just move from one house to another, but they will be able to enjoy a fully urbanized modern life. Although peasants have not changed into townspeople, their villages are actually already a type of urban environment. As a person of authority said, the most essential principle in the transformation is to retain the original character of the village, not to separate the villagers from their customs.

In the areas on the city periphery there are newly built vegetable plots. City agricultural commissioner deputy director Chen Tao yesterday said, the city vegetable supply is strained during the 7th 8th and 9th months. This year they will make vegetable plots in  Hebei and other areas, to supply the city as necessary during those three months.

konjaku: this last paragraph refers to a side-effect of urbanization. As Beijing transforms the agricultural land on its periphery into urban developments, vegetables for the city inhabitants have to brought in from further away.