Rural areas need more care
The central government's stimulus package should not overlook rural regions, says an article on the website of Xinhua News Agency. The following is an excerpt:
To fend off the impact of the international economic recession, our government has launched a stimulus package worth 4 trillion yuan to spur domestic demand. But the worry is that rural economic development would continue to be overlooked and the concern has its reasons.
If we look through the list of key projects recently released by a province, we would find that few are related to rural regions. Now, the gap between cities and rural areas is widening, the main reason of which is the lack of investment in rural areas. Although rural regions should have been the largest consumer market in China, they are not so because farmers are too poor to consume.
Money poured into the rural regions usually cannot bear fruits in a short time and that is why some officials love cities more - urban landscape can more easily be lifted with the same amount of investment.
As urban construction has advanced recently, it is time for us to pour more investment into rural regions, including agricultural technology projects, basic irrigation, basic healthcare, basic education and basic cultural facilities.
Therefore, a certain percentage of the 4 trillion yuan stimulus package must be earmarked beforehand for rural regions so that rural construction will not be overlooked.
(China Daily 12/03/2008 page8)
