CCTV9英语新闻：未来三年我国城镇化投资资金需求量将达25万亿元（在线收听）

The central urbanization work conference, which ended on Friday, reiterated the need for a steady process. The China Development Bank estimates the country’s urbanization will need 25 trillion yuan, or around 4 trillion dollars, over the next three years.

China’s new urbanization drive: the policy tone is proactive. Friday was the day when the highest-level meeting of the Chinese leadership that ever convened on urbanization took place.

The message was clear: the pace of carrying out new measures should be steady, the urbanization process has to be human-centered, while balancing urban-rural development and unleashing domestic demand are the top priorities.

The issue comes with a huge financial cost over the next couple of years. But, at the heart is to improve the living conditions in the cities.

"Urbanization has to do with people’s mentality. It’s actually very crucial. It includes improving their skills, changing their lifestyles. They also need to be provided with all the benefits of working and living in urban areas," said Prof.Xue Lan of Tsinghua University.

But striking the right balance between the scale of farmland and urban areas will remain a huge challenge.

"We focused too much on turning villages into cities and towns. Local governments then used way too much farmland as collateral, in order to get bank funding. Now we need to avoid any massive decrease of farmland during the urbanization process," said Prof. Wen Tiejun of Renmin University of China.

But how can local governments get more funding, given that issuing more debt is no longer sustainable?

"First is to adjust the structure of the fiscal system. The central government should take on more responsibilities for local governments regarding public spending. In the meantime, the central government should help local governments issue debt," said Prof. Wen Tiejun of Renmin University of China.

But there are always two sides of a coin. On one side, China’s rigid "hukou", or household registration system, has prevented many migrants from gaining equal access to public services in cities. On the other side, toxic pollution and environmental costs are putting a big questionmark on the future of China’s urbanization.