Central China's Henan Province, home to over 97 million people, or 7.5 percent of the country's population, is the midst of a town restructuring project. If all goes according to plan, it is estimated that the number of towns in the province would have reduced by about 200 by the end of this year. In addition, 140,000 township officials would have been relocated.
On September 9, 2005, the Henan provincial government held a working meeting via video conference in Zhengzhou to discuss the project.
Under China's employment practices, a government unit and its subsidiary departments are authorized to recruit personnel. However, only personnel hired directly by the unit are entitled to social security and other employee benefits. Those hired by subsidiary departments might enjoy only some of those benefits. Such hires are typically known as "personnel outside the staffing plan."
At the end of 2004, 2,100 towns and townships in Henan employed 302,300 people, of whom only 162,100 were on the regular payroll. In addition, 12,500 people were working under temporary contracts.
Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Henan Provincial Committee Xu Guangchun said: "Overstaffing is a waste of resources. When the agricultural tax was called off to ease the burden on farmers, the revenue of townships was greatly reduced. Some township governments borrowed money in order to pay their employees. This has defeated the purpose of the reform somewhat."
As part of the restructuring project, personnel outside the staffing plan are being relocated, temporary contracts canceled, and the government function of townships reformed.
This is the second time that the province has embarked on such a project. The first was in September 2001. At that time, the CPC Henan Provincial Committee and Henan provincial government issued a project blueprint. According to it, towns in plains and highlands with populations less than 30,000, and towns in mountainous areas with acreage measuring less than 100 square km and with populations less than 20,000 would be merged with bigger towns.
The first project didn't meet with as much success as initially expected because of the lack of supporting policies.
Benefits of the project
According to Wu Haifeng, director of Rural Economy Institute of Henan Academy of Social Sciences, there are many benefits to be reaped from the project with proper implementation. He said: "The project can help to increase a town's population by about a third, while at the same time reducing the number of grassroots cadres with a corresponding reduction in expenditure. It means that administrative interference is also reduced, allowing the market to operate more freely. There will also be more funds available for building essential infrastructure."
Challenges of the project
One of the major challenges of the project is that Henan Province has too many cadres stationed in each town. This is not a problem peculiar only to the province; it is a nationwide issue.
For the project to be successful, about 140,000 outside the staffing plan must be relocated.
But this is not a simple task. The finite number of enterprises in operation in the province means that many cadres will, in effect, be laid off.
According to a deputy township chief who asked to be anonymous, there are typically three categories of people who work in township government: children and relatives of cadres, college graduates, and former army personnel. The first group forms the majority, although it is the other two groups that might be more qualified and who do most of the work. His worry is that township officials will be under severe pressure when making relocation decisions, and that the stability of the townships will be affected.
He also said that after the agriculture tax was called off, the economic, political and cultural resources of township government would be reduced significantly. He added that it is therefore critical that the administration of township governments be reformed as well.
(China.org.cn by Li Xiaohua, November 7, 2005)
