Costs of rural-urban transformation process revealed

The public expenditure required to turn a rural migrant worker into an urban citizen is estimated to be around 80,000 yuan ($12,664) in China, the Beijing News reported over the weekend, citing findings from the Development Research Center of the State Council.

Apart from personal payments by rural workers to afford living in a city, the government spending on all sorts of public services to facilitate the rural-urban shift is of vital importance, said the report published Saturday.

The government spending is mainly devoted to six categories of public services for rural migrant workers, including healthcare, pension insurance, affordable housing, and education for children accompanying their migrant parents, according to Jin Sanlin and Xu Zhaoyuan, two research fellows with the think tank.

The actual costs needed for the rural-urban shift may vary among different cities, especially large ones, the research fellows said, stressing that the government will pay for such costs over the long term, and, if properly arranged, it will not place too heavy a burden on government coffers.

Such findings, though somewhat controversial in terms of the degree of expense, could help illustrate necessary urbanization measures, which have been under the spotlight recently.

Newly elected Premier Li Keqiang has repeatedly called for deeper urbanization as a way to shore up the nation's sustainable growth.