This photo taken on April 26, 2018 shows a towering skyline of Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province. (Xinhua)
BEIJING, April 10 (Xinhua) -- China will advance the relaxation of permanent residency restrictions for rural population working in cities, an official with the country's top economic planner said Wednesday.
As part of the new urbanization drive, city governments should strengthen infrastructure construction and the supply of public services to facilitate new residents, said an official with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
The remarks came after the NDRC recently released a document outlining key urbanization tasks this year, noting that restrictions on permanent residence permits should be scrapped in cities with populations between 1 million and 3 million.
For cities with populations of 3 million to 5 million, the qualifications for such permits should be "relaxed," and the restrictions for certain key groups of people to get such permits should be removed, the document said.
Key groups of people include the new generation of migrant workers who have stable jobs in cities and the rural population who have been living in cities for over five years.
Previously, the country has already gradually abolished permanent residency restrictions in small and medium-sized cities and towns with populations below 1 million.
Further efforts should be made to ensure permanent residents, including the rural population in cities, are fully entitled to social welfare in their resident cities, said the NDRC official.
Statistics from the Ministry of Public Security showed that 13.9 million rural population were granted urban household registration in 2018. Enditem
