Changjiang Daily:

Urban management is closely related to people's interests, and has drawn much attention from all circles of society. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that cities shall be governed meticulously, like creating an embroidery. What has the ministry done in this regard? Thank you.

Jiang Wanrong:

As the Chinese saying goes, construction work accounts for 30% of urban development while the rest relies on management. Managing a city, especially mega-cities, is not an easy job. General Secretary Xi Jinping has made clear instructions in this aspect many times. Today, Mr. Wang will introduce this aspect.

Wang Shengjun: 

Thank you for your question. In recent years, we have resolutely acted on the important instruction given by General Secretary Xi Jinping that cities shall be governed with meticulous efforts and made special action plans on making the urban management more meticulous. We guided local authorities to deepen reform of the law enforcement system for urban management. Meticulous efforts have been made to improve urban management.

First, we deepened institutional reform. We have established a four-tiered system for urban management at the national, provincial, city, and county levels. The MOHURD has set up the Urban Management Supervision Bureau. Provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities have specialized departments that are in charge of urban management. There are also comprehensive departments with urban management functions at city and county levels. Laws and regulations have been improved, and we have promulgated Measures for Law Enforcement in Urban Management and Technical Standards for Urban Outdoor Advertising Facilities, among others. We worked to carry out urban management works at the community level and solve the "last-mile" problem to better meet the needs of people. We pushed forward the establishment of a new city management paradigm based on collaboration and participation.

Second, we focused on sci-tech development in urban management. We have initiated the building of an urban management service platform at the national, provincial, and city levels. We have established a national network that connects all departments, and in which coordinated efforts will be achieved, and information will be shared. We have set up a new mechanism in which our decision-making, management, and innovations are based on statistics. The platforms at national and provincial levels focus on the overall situation, providing guidance and conducting supervision. The platform at the city level focuses on coordinating efforts, enhancing competent services, and strengthening assessment. Shanghai, Hangzhou, Qingdao, and other cities have put in place e-platforms for urban management, which preliminarily realized the goal of addressing problems at the source as well as process monitoring, early warning, emergency response, and improving the urban management with a holistic approach. 

Third, we have made greater efforts to train urban management personnel and improved our capability for doing meticulous work. We have continuously carried out special campaigns themed with "Strengthening Foundation, Changing Working Style, Building Image," and formulated the Code of Conduct for Urban Management and Law Enforcement. We have worked to ensure that law enforcement is strict, procedure-based, impartial, and civil by comprehensively introducing the system of publicity for administrative law enforcement, the system of archiving of the entire law-enforcement process and the system of legal review of major law enforcement. We have also promoted the "721 Working Method," which solved 70% of the problems through service, 20% of the problems through management, and 10% of that through enforcement. In the prevention and control of the COVID-19 epidemic and the fight against disasters such as waterlogging, typhoons, and snowstorms, urban management officers have lived up to their responsibilities, taken the lead, and made contributions. Three urban management officers, including Zhang Guifeng, were awarded the title of "model civil servants."

Four, we have made contribution to the operation of cities. We have formulated the standards for clean, orderly, and safe cityscape and included main indicators into the national standard evaluation system for civilized cities. We have continued to improve cities' appearance and environment, focusing on tackling difficult problems in backstreets, alleyways, advertising plaques, and manhole covers. We have also conducted trials of risk list management system for urban governance and pilot monitoring system for the safe operation of urban infrastructure, and built comprehensive monitoring systems for information on gas, water supply, drainage, power supply, heating, and bridges so as to improve urban risk prevention and control capabilities.

Thank you!

CNBC:

I have prepared two questions. First, I would like to ask, how is the housing shortage situation in urban and rural areas? How much more money and what kind of measures will be needed to support urban and rural development? Second, what are the key plans for the issues of urban and rural housing development in the next year or two? For example, in regards to the proportion of rental housing, government-subsidized rental housing, etc.? What other sectors will have new opportunities to participate? Thank you.

Jiang Wanrong:

The housing problem is a major concern to all. I will invite Mr. Wang Shengjun to answer these questions.

Wang Shengjun:

Thank you for your questions. Mr. Jiang has introduced the development situation, including the progress we have achieved in housing construction over the past decade. Since the reform and opening-up, especially the urban housing reform, we have constantly accelerated the pace of housing construction and continuously expanded the scale of housing supply, so the problem of housing shortage has been solved gradually. According to the data of the seventh national census, the nation's total household living space has surpassed 50 billion sq m as of 2020. At this stage, people's demand for housing has shifted from "zero to one" to "good or not." They have started to require more comfortable living conditions, a more beautiful environment, and more convenient services. In response to people's expectations, the MOHURD will speed up the establishment of a housing system with multiple types of suppliers, multiple channels for housing support, and encouragement for both renting and buying. We will strive to improve housing design and construction, improve management and service quality, and continuously meet people's needs for a better living.

Over the last decade, we have made a rapid progress in housing as well as urban and rural development. The construction scale of housing, including urban infrastructure, has become relatively large. Speaking of future work regarding housing and urban and rural development, it is fair to say that we still in a period of rapid urbanization. Tens of millions of people are added to the urban population every year, resulting in massive demand for urban housing, infrastructure, and public service facilities. Meanwhile, our cities have entered an important stage of urban renewal and have been faced with many new tasks such as rebuilding old urban residential areas, shoring up weak links in infrastructure and renovation. It is fair to say that the construction scale remains relatively large considering these two aspects mentioned above, as well as the efforts to advance rural development. Advancing housing and urban and rural development has remained a long-term task as well as a comprehensive task.

Going forward, the MOHURD will earnestly implement the decisions and arrangements made by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, adhere to the general principle of seeking progress while maintaining stability, and take various measures to advance supply-side structural reforms in housing, urban renewal, and rural development in a coordinated manner. We will also accelerate the construction of government-subsidized rental housing, as you mentioned before, to make new progress in the high-quality development of housing and urban and rural areas.

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