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Bridging urban-rural gap is 'historic task'
By Xie Chuanjiao (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-09-04 06:54 Senior Chinese leaders and political advisors have warned against a further widening of the rural-urban gap despite the country's fast economic growth over the past three decades. "The imbalance in rural-urban development is worsening and taking on many forms," Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu said on Tuesday. Hui was addressing a special conference held by the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China's top political advisory body. The income ratio between urban and rural areas grew from 2.6:1 in the late 1990s to 3.3:1 last year, according to data from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
For example, 80 percent of the nation's schools in poor repair are in the countryside, while 60 percent of hospitals at township level need to upgrade facilities such as X-ray machines. Zhu said rural residents generally have poorer access to educational and medical services. The government invested 5.6 billion yuan ($818 million) in rural cultural undertakings last year, 28 percent of the total national spending on culture. In addition, key services such as water, transport, power and communications are in a much worse state in relatively underdeveloped central and western China than in better developed eastern areas, Zhu said. More than 250 million rural residents do not have access to safe drinking water, nearly 100 towns have no access to roads, and there are still 2 million rural people without electricity. (For more biz stories, please visit Industries)
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