13 indicators, 5 bottom lines... Promote the standardized and healthy development of characteristic towns

13 indicators to improve quality and efficiency, 5 bottom line to prevent risks ——

Promote the standardized and healthy development of characteristic towns

Mainly based on the manufacture of large and medium-sized buses, Jimei Automobile Town in Xiamen, Fujian Province, gathers more than 100 auto parts production enterprises; based on ShengTang culture and Silk Road cultural tourism, the annual tourism income of Xi'an Datang Xishi Town in Shaanxi Province reaches more than 1 billion yuan; the construction of technology research and development transformation centers, intelligent standard factories, Henan Luoyang New Materials and Intelligent Equipment Science and Technology Innovation Town attracts a large number of high-tech enterprises to settle in... In recent years, a number of boutique towns have emerged across the country, which has promoted economic transformation and upgrading and new urbanization construction.

The results are remarkable, but there are also problems, especially the problems of confusing concepts, unclear connotations and weak leading industries in some characteristic towns have attracted the attention of many parties. How to standardize management? How to achieve better development? The National Development and Reform Commission and 10 other ministries and commissions recently jointly issued the "Guidelines for the Standardized and Healthy Development of National Characteristic Towns" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guidelines"), which clarifies 13 specific indicators, delineates 5 bottom lines, and puts forward basic guidelines for universal operability around the spatial layout, quality and efficiency of characteristic towns.

"Less and fine" to build a characteristic town

By the first half of this year, the number of characteristic towns on the national list has been reduced to about 1,600, and it is expected to decrease

Recently, the official website of the National Development and Reform Commission hung up such a notice: After verification with relevant parties, it was found that the "equipment intelligent manufacturing town" in Yanbian County and Lanling County were false "characteristic towns", which had a certain adverse impact on the construction order of characteristic towns.

What's going on? Looking at it carefully, the circular gave a detailed explanation: Hongge Town, Yanbian County, is an administratively organized town, not a characteristic town, and is not included in the list of characteristic towns in the province where it is located, but in the name of "Hongge Sunshine Hot Spring Wellness Tourism Town", it engages in foreign publicity and other acts, violating the clear requirements of "not naming the administrative establishment town as a 'characteristic town'". Lanling County's "Equipment Intelligent Manufacturing Town" is a traditional industrial park, not a characteristic town, which is not included in the list of characteristic towns in the province, but has been engaged in project approval, investment attraction, external publicity and other acts in the name of "characteristic town", which violates the clear requirements of "not naming traditional industrial parks as 'characteristic towns'".

"In recent years, the National Development and Reform Commission, together with relevant parties, has continued to deepen the work of standardizing and correcting deviations in view of the problems in the development of characteristic towns, promoted the introduction of relevant documents, and also promoted a number of advanced typical experiences, reported and exposed negative cases, and formed a research team to carry out on-site verification." Wu Yuetao, head of the comprehensive team of the Office of Promoting Urbanization of the National Development and Reform Commission, introduced that through the joint efforts of various departments and localities, the development of characteristic towns has generally entered a standardized development track.

According to the data of the National Development and Reform Commission, before the end of 2017, the number of "characteristic towns" declared to the outside world was relatively large, and there were a large number of false virtual "characteristic towns". By the first half of 2021, the number of characteristic towns in the list of provinces across the country has been reduced to about 1600, half of which are located in developed areas in the east. According to the work plan of dynamic adjustment and survival of the fittest in various provinces, the number is expected to be further reduced. At the same time, the list of characteristic towns has been initially established, and the number of characteristic towns in the list of 19 provinces is currently less than 50.

Development is more standardized and the role is more prominent. Shi Yulong, director of the Urban and Small Town Reform and Development Center of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that in recent years, a number of boutique towns have emerged, many of which have become an important platform and starting point for the normalization of economic transformation and upgrading and the construction of new urbanization in various places. Judging from the existing 1,600 or so characteristic towns in various provinces, a total of about 4.4 million people have been employed, the cumulative investment in recent years has been about 3.5 trillion yuan, the annual tax payment is about 280 billion yuan, the average investment in each characteristic town is about 2.1 billion yuan, the average number of employment is about 2700 people, and the average annual tax payment is about 170 million yuan.

Rational layout, improve quality

——In principle, the construction land area in the planned land is not less than 0.5 square kilometers, and the proportion of investment in characteristic industries to the total investment is not less than 60% in principle.

Since the rapid launch of the country since 2016, the construction of characteristic towns has gone through more than 5 years, how to further promote its standardized and healthy development? The Guidelines issued by the 10 ministries and commissions put forward a number of specific requirements around the development positioning, spatial layout, quality and efficiency, and management methods of characteristic towns. Among them, the development positioning is placed in the first article.

The Guidelines make it clear that characteristic towns are micro-industrial agglomeration areas with a planned land area of generally several square kilometers, and are neither administrative towns nor traditional industrial parks. Characteristic towns focus on cultivating and developing leading industries, attracting talents, technology, capital and other advanced elements to gather, with subdivided and high-end distinctive industrial characteristics, the diversified functional characteristics of the integration of industry and city, intensive and efficient space utilization characteristics, is a special and strong industry, functional convergence, small and beautiful form, new and lively mechanism of a new type of development space.

How to grasp it? The Guidelines propose 13 indicators.

In terms of area, it is clear that the lower limit of the planned land area of characteristic towns is not less than 1 square kilometer in principle, the upper limit is not more than 5 square kilometers in principle, and the construction land area in the planned land is not less than 0.5 square kilometers in principle.

Speaking of the determination of the above indicators, the relevant person in charge of the Planning Department of the National Development and Reform Commission introduced that from the current situation of various provinces, the area of used construction land in each characteristic town exceeds 0.5 square kilometers, and the average is about 0.9 square kilometers. In addition, proposing this indicator is conducive to cleaning up the fake "characteristic towns". In some areas, there is a phenomenon of naming single projects with land areas of tens of acres or even only a few mu as "characteristic towns" and administrative towns with tens of square kilometers as "characteristic towns", which violates the connotation of the concept of characteristic towns and produces misleading and adverse effects.

In addition, in terms of style and form, it is proposed that the green coverage rate of characteristic towns should not be less than 30% in principle. In terms of investment intensity, the proportion of investment in characteristic industries to total investment is not less than 60% in principle, and the average cumulative investment amount of construction land mu during the construction period is not less than 2 million yuan / mu in principle. In terms of quality and efficiency, the labor productivity of all employees is not less than 200,000 yuan / person in principle, the number of employment absorbed by a single characteristic town is not less than 2,000 people in principle, the average tax paid for construction land is not less than 100,000 yuan / year in principle, and the number of tourists received by cultural tourism characteristic towns is not less than 500,000 person-times / year in principle. In terms of innovation vitality, the added value of the "three new" economy accounts for no less than 20% of the gross domestic product in principle, and the investment intensity of research and development funds in advanced manufacturing, scientific and technological innovation, creative design, and digital economy characteristic towns is not less than 2.5% in principle.

"From a quantitative point of view, the Guidelines put forward specific indicators, which not only reflect the orientation of controlling quantity and improving quality, but also based on local practice in recent years, reflecting the orientation of seeking truth from facts, being positive and prudent." Wu Yuetao said.

Deepen the unified management system of the list

In principle, there are no more than 50 characteristic towns in the list of provinces with a per capita GDP of less than 10,000 US dollars, and the encouragement is controlled within 30

In the process of building characteristic towns in some areas, there is a tendency to real estate. Wei Houkai, director of the Institute of Rural Development of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that characteristic towns should be supported by industry, but in recent years, the construction of some local characteristic towns has changed its flavor, there is too much real estate land, and industrial and supporting land is obviously insufficient, which should be paid attention to.

Wu Yuetao said that the "Guidelines" released this time clearly put forward the bottom line of "housing and not speculation", strictly prevent the trend of real estate, and the construction land of characteristic towns is mainly used for the development of characteristic industries, of which residential land is mainly used to meet the self-occupation needs of employed people in characteristic towns and the requirements of balance between work and housing. In addition to the original traditional houses, the proportion of residential land in the construction land of characteristic towns should not exceed 30% in principle, and it is encouraged to control below 25%.

"Clarifying the quantitative requirements for the proportion of residential land in the construction land of characteristic towns is conducive to providing a basis for each region to carry out normative and corrective work, effectively preventing and controlling the trend of real estate, and preventing the occurrence of different interpretations and standards." The relevant person in charge of the Planning Department of the National Development and Reform Commission said that from the current situation in various provinces, the proportion of residential land in most characteristic towns is less than 30%. Referring to the value of residential land accounting for about 38% of the construction land in cities and towns nationwide in 2019, it is a more reasonable choice to set the proportion of residential land in characteristic towns to no more than 30% in principle according to the principle of strictness and tightening. In order to prevent individual parties from reversing the operation and taking 30% as the pursuit goal, it is proposed to encourage control below 25% to guide control at a lower level.

In addition to the bottom line of "housing and not speculation", the Guidelines also put forward the bottom line of compliant land use, ecological environmental protection, debt prevention and control, and safe production. It is clear that the violations of the above five bottom lines should be rectified within a time limit, and those with serious nature should be cleaned up; the false "characteristic towns" that are incorrectly named by administrative towns, the "so-and-so towns" that are self-titled by simple real estate development and other projects, and the virtual "characteristic towns" that stay on paper and have not started construction must be immediately removed.

"In order to better promote the high-quality development of characteristic towns, we must grasp key issues and resolve prominent contradictions." Shi Yulong believes that it is necessary to improve the overall planning level at the central level and strengthen the responsibility at the provincial level.

Wu Yuetao introduced that the Guidelines deepen and refine the unified management system of the list of characteristic towns, and the national characteristic towns must be included in the list of provinces, and those that are not included must be cleaned up or renamed in time. Each province will be fully built into a list of characteristic towns, and those included in the list should have the basic conditions set forth in the Guidelines, and after completion, they should meet the requirements of the indicators specified in the Guidelines. From the perspective of quantity, the number of characteristic towns in the list of provinces with a per capita GDP of less than 10,000 US dollars is not more than 50 in principle, and the encouragement is controlled within 30.

"In the next step, the National Development and Reform Commission will continue to work with all relevant departments in various regions to effectively promote the implementation of the Guidelines, carry out 'looking back' actions on the standardization and correction work in recent years, further standardize the order of the construction of characteristic towns, and improve the quality and level of the development of characteristic towns across the country." Wu Yuetao said.

Reporter Qiu Haifeng

Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition