China's urbanization plan 2014-2020

BEIJING - Basic principles, objectives and milestones for urbanization in China from now to 2020 were set out this weekend.

A national plan (2014-2020), the first of its kind, was unveiled on Sunday by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, the country's Cabinet.

The following are main features of the scheme.

New urbanization plan ambitious:Analysts

Urbanization should be for people's sake

-- Permanent urban residents rose from 17.9 percent of the total population in 1978 to 53.7 percent in 2013.

-- By 2020, 100 million migrant workers and other permanent urban residents should get city "hukou" (household registration).

-- There were almost 270 million migrant workers in China at the end of 2013.

-- Regular railways will connect all cities with more than 200,000 residents by 2020, and high-speed rail will connect those with above 500,000 residents.

-- Expressways will link cities with over 200,000 residents by 2020.

-- Civil aviation services will cover about 90 percent of China's population.

Significance

-- strong impetus for sustainable economic growth

-- accelerates industrial restructuring

-- solves agricultural problems

-- balances regional development