To save more farmland, upgrade rural infrastructure and protect farmers' interests, China is taking a long look at how it plans small towns and villages. In a Thursday press release, the Ministry of Construction said plans are already complete for 81 percent of the country's small towns and 62 percent of its villages.

China has 42,620 small towns in which 191 million people live. There are roughly 3.6 million villages.

Per capita residential space has grown to 25.8 square meters as more than 600 million square meters of housing are built every year. Multistory homes make up 67 percent of the new construction.

Although the government is working to preserve arable land, officials at the ministry warned that indiscriminate construction in small towns and villages is becoming a serious problem.

Some local governments consider new construction a symbol of modernization and an asset to their careers. Many construction projects are unrealistic or of poor quality while taking up too much farmland and damaging farmers' interests.

The ministry stated that construction planning in towns and villages should be based on the available resources and the surrounding environment.

An imbalance in attention given to cities and villages is another barrier to development.

In February this year, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Construction chose 1,887 towns as models for others to follow.

(China Daily July 9, 2004)