Huge urban influx forecast for China

BEIJING, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- China's urbanization will rapidly accelerate, with 300 million people from rural areas expected to move to cites within 20 years, a senior official said.

That is approximately the equivalent of moving the U.S. population to China's cities.

The plus side of such a shift is a huge market demand, Xu Zhongwei, who made the forecast for the Housing and Urban-Rural Development ministry, told China Daily.

More than 600 million, or 45 percent, of China's 1.3 billion people live in cities, compared with 17 percent 30 years ago, the report said.

Xu said the pace will create at least 1 trillion yuan, or about $146 billion, in annual investment opportunities in infrastructure projects in the cities.

Although urbanization has been growing at an "incredible speed," Xu said, the country hasn't seen "a huge increase of slums in the cities during the process."

Figures on population density show the number per square kilometer in central parts of Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing has surpassed 50,000 to 60,000, compared with a world average of 10,000, the report said. Chinese cities cover only 80,000 square kilometers, or about 31,000 square miles, of the country's total land.

"We need a balanced policy to prevent people from living a poor urban life in high-rise buildings," Xu said. "If that happens, fast urbanization is meaningless."