The "feast of building a city" is risky. Who is the driving force behind the "urbanization movement"?

The planned area of many new cities has reached more than half of the existing urban area, and the planned population is basically the same as the existing urban population.

"Lanzhou moved 700 barren hills to build a new city, Yan 'an invested/kloc-0.00 billion to build a new city, several poor counties in Guizhou replaced land with market towns to build a new city, Lushan built a new city/kloc-0.5 million residents moved down the mountain ..." Enter the keyword "building a new city" in the search engine, and the vigorous news of "building a city" will come into view.

In recent years, under the banner of promoting urbanization, some places have built new cities and districts, and the trend is getting worse. According to the latest survey of 12 provinces and regions by the Center for Urban and Small Town Reform and Development of the National Development and Reform Commission, 12 provincial capitals have all proposed to promote the construction of new towns and new districts, and 55 new towns and new districts are planned to be built, including Shenyang 13 new towns and new districts in Wuhan1kloc-0/new towns and new districts. 144 prefecture-level cities, 133 proposed to build new cities and new districts, accounting for 92.4%, and each prefecture-level city proposed to build 1.5 new cities and new districts on average. 16 1 county-level cities, 67 proposed to build new cities and new districts, accounting for 4 1.6%.

"It is not impossible to build a new city. With the rapid development of economy and society, the carrying capacity of the original city has reached the limit, and it is reasonable to expand the urban development space. But in reality, some new cities violate the law of development and are artificially built. " Li Tie, director of the Center for the Reform and Development of Cities and Small Towns of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that at present, there are many problems in the construction of new cities and districts in some places, such as "excessive quantity, too large scale and too high standards". "In the cities we investigated, the planned area of many new towns has reached more than half of the existing urban area, and the population of the planned new towns and new districts is basically equivalent to the existing urban population. Moreover, many local new towns and new districts have put forward higher construction standards. Eco-city, smart city, science and technology city, modern city, etc. Everywhere, most construction and configuration standards are domestic and international leading standards. "

This practice goes beyond reality and inevitably brings many problems. In some places, planning is carried out in urban construction, and new urban areas are often tens or hundreds of square kilometers. However, due to the lack of effective industrial support, few businesses are attracted, and the new urban area eventually becomes a wasteland; In some places, large-scale construction was carried out, and a new city was artificially built with reinforced concrete and masonry in a short time. However, due to insufficient population, it is dark and uninhabited at night, becoming a "ghost town"; In the process of construction, some new towns have illegally expanded their land, unreasonable resettlement compensation and inadequate policies, which have caused dissatisfaction among the masses and frequent mass incidents, seriously affecting social harmony and stability.

The path selection of urbanization in some places pays more attention to urban space expansion and land development, which is considered more effective.

"The overheated construction of the new city is rooted in the misunderstanding of the urbanization policy of the central government." Yan, director of the Land Planning Research Center of China Renmin University, said that the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed to promote the development of urbanization, but urbanization is by no means a simple pile of reinforced concrete, and its core is the urbanization of people. "Unfortunately, at present, the path selection of urbanization in some places focuses more on urban space expansion and land development, because it is relatively easier to implement and get faster results, but the side effects are also relatively large, which is easy to cause' unfinished projects'".

The GDP-oriented development idea in some places is also an important promoter of the "city-building movement". Although all localities have indicated that GDP is no longer used as an assessment index, in practice, many places still "only use GDP as a hero". At present, the competition of industrial investment is fierce, and it is difficult to quickly stimulate GDP growth. However, through the development of the new city, it can easily drive infrastructure investment, promote the development of the real estate industry, and greatly increase GDP in a short time.

"At present, the construction of many new cities reflects the wishes of the government and officials." Li Tie believes that the construction of new cities is visible and tangible. If a large piece of land is circled around the city, a new city is planned, and a large number of buildings, roads, squares and landmark buildings are built according to high standards, the "taste" of the city will naturally improve and its political achievements will easily be revealed. "With these' outstanding achievements', government officials can get more promotion opportunities. Moreover, even if the decision-making mistake is later discovered and the new city is in a mess, the promoted officials will not have to bear the responsibility for this mistake because of the lack of an effective reward and punishment mechanism, so most local officials are full of enthusiasm for the construction of the new city. "

The construction of the "new district" has been messed up, and the deep reason lies in the dependence of some places on "land finance". In recent years, the proportion of land transfer fees in local fiscal revenue has been increasing. In 20 12, the national land transfer fee reached 2.69 trillion yuan, equivalent to more than 40% of the total local fiscal revenue in the same period. Land transfer fees in some counties and cities account for more than 50% of the extra-budgetary fiscal revenue. A research report of the Law Center of the Ministry of Land and Resources pointed out: "Under the current fiscal and taxation system, the financial rights and responsibilities of the central and local governments do not match. In order to realize the accelerated development of industrialization and urbanization without constructive financial funds, local governments need to rely on the transfer of operating land to obtain funds to support infrastructure construction and public expenditure. " Therefore, boosting the land price and enhancing the city value in order to obtain more financial benefits has become a "rational" choice in many places.

It will bring a lot of cultivated land occupation and serious destruction of resources and environment, and the local debt risk can not be ignored.

Experts believe that it is very dangerous for governments at all levels to be keen on expanding urban area at present, and the great risk contained in the "city-building movement" of the Great Leap Forward cannot be ignored.

"Many places occupy a lot of cultivated land in the construction of new towns, which will seriously impact our red line of 65.438+08 billion mu of cultivated land." Yan said that some cities "spread the pie" expansion, divorced from the actual construction of wide roads and large squares, and the population density of built-up areas was low, resulting in serious waste of land resources and rapid reduction of cultivated land. According to statistics, in 2008, the cultivated land area in China was1951825.74 million mu, and the cultivated land area decreased1252.6 million mu in 2008, so the situation of cultivated land protection became more and more severe. "With the rapid advancement of industrialization and urbanization, the rigid demand for food is also increasing, and the cultivated land is greatly reduced, which will directly threaten China's food security."

The pressure on resources and environment is equally great. Some cities have disorderly development of space, over-concentration of population, serious traffic congestion, frequent food safety incidents, and increased environmental pollution such as air, water and soil.

Local debt risk can not be ignored. "Now many places have put the treasure of promoting economic growth on the construction of new cities, and it has become a common practice to borrow money by using financing platforms." Li Tie said that most of the new town planning has determined a huge investment scale, and hopes to repay it through the land transfer fee for new town development in the future. Statistics from the Ministry of Land and Resources show that by the end of 20 12, the land area of 84 key cities in China was 348,700 hectares, and the total amount of mortgage loans was 5.95 trillion yuan, up by 15.7% and 23.2% respectively. "In the construction of these new cities, once the development subject is not in place, local governments will face investment risks."

At present, the debt problems in some cities have begun to appear. The results of spot checks on government debts of 36 local governments since 20 1 1 show that the debt balance of the above-mentioned local governments has increased by 12.94% in the past two years, and the debt balance of the cities with the highest debt ratio is more than twice that of the local comprehensive financial resources. At the same time, the land transfer fee, which is an important "backing" for local governments to repay debts, has declined. In 20 12, the national land transfer contract price was 2.69 trillion yuan, far lower than 3. 15 trillion yuan in 201year. In addition, the central government also draws funds such as water conservancy and education from the transfer income, which greatly reduces the available funds held by local governments. This increase or decrease increases the debt risk.

The key is to solve the assessment problem of cadres first, and change from "material-based assessment" to "people-oriented assessment" instead of "GDP first"

Urbanization is the process of historical evolution and the inevitable result of economic and social development. We must not regard the construction of new cities as a means to pursue GDP and as a "suitable job". In urban construction, local governments should follow Scientific Outlook on Development, update the concept of urban planning, and effectively change the urban development model.

"The key to guiding the construction of local new cities is to solve the assessment problem of cadres first, and GDP can no longer be supreme." Yan believes that it is neither possible nor realistic to rely on "building cities" to stimulate GDP growth for a long time. In the future, the assessment and evaluation of cadres at all levels should pay more attention to the comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development of economy and society, and change from "material-oriented" to "people-oriented" as soon as possible. The evaluation content should reflect more Scientific Outlook on Development's view of political achievements in caring for people's livelihood and serving the masses.

Planning should be the "baton" of urban construction, but in reality, it is often that the project planned by the previous mayor has not been completed, and the next mayor will rebuild and rebuild, and the planning has become "an armchair strategist". "At present, the construction of many new towns is an insult to the mayor. In the future, it is necessary to enhance the scientific and seriousness of planning, give full play to the basic role of the market in allocating resources, and avoid administrative promotion. " Li Tie believes that the new town planning must be scientifically demonstrated before promulgation, and the determined planning must be strictly implemented. The previous leader must never go east, and the next leader must go west. A restraint mechanism should be established as soon as possible. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen the training of urban management led by the city government and improve their understanding of the laws of economy, market and urban development.

In order to guide local governments to take the right path in urban construction, the fiscal and taxation system must also be adjusted accordingly. At present, in the tax-sharing financial system with separation of financial power and administrative power, financial resources are relatively concentrated at the central and provincial levels; Power is scattered among local governments. Experts suggest that in the future, we should speed up the reform of the existing fiscal and taxation system, establish a fiscal balance system, readjust the financial power of the central and local governments, reduce the local financial pressure, and at the same time establish and improve the risk prevention mechanism of land, finance, finance, planning, auditing and other departments with division of responsibilities, information sharing and joint supervision to reduce illegal mortgages. (Chen Renze)