Beijing, Oct 25: In the process of promoting urbanization in China, we must resolve contradictions between the pace of urbanization and the limited supply of resources and between the ever growing financing demand for urbanization and the backward financing system by planning in advance, so as to establish and implement the scientific concept of development. At the International Symposium on Urban Planning held today in Beijing, Chen Yuan, Governor of China Development Bank, made the above statement. Wang Guangtao, Minister of Construction, was present and spoke at the symposium.

The symposium is jointly held by China Development Bank and World Bank. The World Bank Institute and China Development Bank have invited more than 200 participants to attend the two-day symposium. Those participants include renowned experts and senior scholars in urban planning from China, some European countries and the United States, representatives of famous transnational corporations engaged in municipal engineering sector, and mayors and representatives from about 40 large and medium-sized Chinese cities

It is reported that participants will center on issues concerning scientific planning of urban development and jointly discuss the future of the Chinese cities. Topics for discussion are urban land use, urban planning and promoting urbanization through financing, urban functions and layout, orientation of urban development, construction of high-tech cities, protection of cultural heritage, etc. At the symposium, the Chinese and foreign experts will introduce advanced theories and experiences at home and abroad and successful cases of urban planning and construction in some cities, such as Vancouver, Paris, Stockholm, etc. During the symposium, they will visit Tianjin, Wuhan, Xi’an and other cities, conduct on-the-spot investigations of urban planning and make suggestions to solve problems arising in urban planning there.

At the symposium, Wang Guangtao, Minister of Construction, pointed out that by the end of 2003, China’s level of urbanization had reached 40%, and that urbanization has entered the period of rapid development. As China continues to deepen the reform and open wider to the outside and its market economy is further improved, its urban planning also requires change and improvement. He said that in the new century and the new stage in which we accelerate our socialist modernization drive and build a relatively well-off society in an all-round way, urban and rural planning should focus on how to attain the government’s strategic goals, make up for deficiencies in the market, effectively allocate public resources, protect resources and the environment, coordinate interests and relations and maintain social justice. Governments at all levels need to attach great importance to and actively guide the improvement and development of urban planning, and all sectors of society also need to show concern about and actively participate in this endeavor.

At the symposium, Chen Yuan, Governor of China Development Bank, emphasized that we must combine the financial development with the scientific concept of development and take the initiative to give scope to the role of financial sector in economic development, so as to establish and implement the scientific concept of development in the financial sector. He thought that we must solve outstanding problems in two aspects, so as to scientifically promote the development of urbanization. First, we must resolve the contradiction between the pace of urbanization and the limited supply of resources by planning in advance and achieve the sustainable development of the environment and resources. Second, we must resolve the contradiction between the ever growing financing demand for urbanization and the backward financing system. China has a vast territory, economic and social development is uneven in all localities, and the bottleneck in the banking system is outstanding. Chen Yuan thought that to resolve these contradictions, we must base ourselves on China’s realities, draw on experiences from other countries, combine the role of government with market forces, give full scope to the role of development finance, promote the market building and the system building and open up the financing bottleneck in the development of urbanization.

At the symposium, Ms. Frannie Leautier, Vice-President of the World Bank said through live broadcast that she hopes that this symposium will help China’s cities to be more competitive economically, more attractive environmentally and more steady in terms of financial support. She said that China needs to improve the current practices in urban planning and financing gradually so as to make sure that China’s cities can increase their capabilities of sustainable development and their unique charm while improving infrastructure facilities.