OREANDA-NEWS. May 23, 2013. Urbanization building is related to the overall situation of China's modernization. The 18th Party Congress, the central economic work meeting, and this year's government work report all put forward specific requirements for pushing forward new urbanization building with Chinese characteristics. A major issue that we should seriously think about right now is how to adapt finance to the needs of new urbanization development, step up innovation, improve financial services, and better serve the synchronized development of China's industrialization, urbanization, informatization, and agricultural modernization.

Urbanization is a historical task of China's modernization building and a complicated systemic project that involves economic, social, cultural, and ecological fields. The key to China's active and proper promotion of new urbanization is human urbanization. It is not just the simple change in population proportion or significant expansion in the urban area; more important is a series of important changes in the development model, economic structure, employment modes, and social security, and we must embark on a sustainable development path that is characterized by scientific planning, being people-oriented, urban and rural coordination, production and urban integration, intensiveness and high efficiency, and low-carbon economy.

At the same time, we need to stimulate new urbanization as the greatest potential for economic growth through deepening reform, and should lose no time in pushing forward associated fiscal, tax, financial, and land reform. At present and for the immediate future period, there is still a huge gap in longer-term funding for pushing forward new urbanization in China, and that has raised higher demands for doing a good job in finance and has also offered us great potential for development.

Since 1998, China Development Bank (CDB) has promoted the practice of development financing, stepped up its support for urbanization building, provided financing to push forward railway, highway, and other public infrastructure building, improved the comprehensive supporting capacity of urban areas, strengthened the industrial and technological support of urbanization, enhanced the industrial and population gathering ability, and raised the employment level. At the same time, the bank has actively promoted the improvement of people's livelihood and social construction, pushed forward the development in "three rural", welfare housing, medium, small and micro enterprises, and educational areas, solved the dual structural problem in urban development, and reduced the cost of turning farmers to urban residents. It can be said that CDB has been supporting urbanization building for the longest time and with the most efforts, the best quality, and the best effect, and it has become a major bank in supporting urbanization building. As of the end of last year, CDB has issued a cumulative total of 5.7 trillion yuan in urbanization lending with an outstanding balance of 3.3 trillion yuan, of which railway, highway, and public infrastructure lending amount to 450 billion, 1.1 trillion, and 1.3 trillion yuan respectively, and welfare housing lending 330.9 billion yuan. The bank's non-performing loan ratio was only 0.3%. Funding support from CDB has accelerated China's urbanization process and has driven local fiscal revenue increases and GDP growth.

CDB will further strengthen innovation, properly handle comprehensive operations, support key areas in urbanization and the building of weak links with longer-term investment and financing, and be a financial pioneer in the historical mission of pushing forward new urbanization building. 1) Scientific planning. We will step up our efforts to plan cooperation and formulate financing plans for the urbanization development at various localities after taking into account factors such as finance, local fiscal and taxation situation, government debt and market capital supply. 2) Innovation-driven progress. We will learn from international experience, enhance the investment and financing system and mechanism, promote innovation and development in land management, fiscal and taxation system, state capital and financial products. 3) Market operation.

We will pay attention to the basic role of the market mechanism and push forward the market's standard operation in accordance with independent, equitable, and market-oriented principles in order to achieve sustainable development. 4) Resource integration. We will reasonably integrate the policy, fiscal, land, financial and administrative resources according to the law of the configuration of various elements, and fully demonstrate the system advantage in concentrating our strength in making accomplishments. 5) Diversified platform. We will promote the combination of interests motivation and policy guidance, and construct government, market and mixed investment and financing forms so as to meet diversified building needs. 6) Dedicated support.

We will follow the principles of low cost, long-term view, sustainability and controlled aggregation, be innovative in products and operating mode, and arrange dedicated loans and bonds to support urbanization. 7) Government guidance. We will strengthen cooperation between the bank and the government, promote the government's role in conducting planning, integrating resources, transforming residents, and enhancing system and mechanism, and offer guidance in the reasonable allocation of public resources in the economic, social, cultural and ecological fields. 8) Trial implementation. China has varying national conditions across different regions and one policy is impossible to cover the entire country. In order to highlight major prominent features, it is necessary to carry out trial implementation. We will launch pilot schemes in qualified cities and towns in conjunction with the national urbanization pilot program to push forward gradual orderly implementation.