Shanghai will further develop its rural areas in a bid to bridge the gap between the fast-developing urban regions and less-developed suburbs, sources at a city work conference on suburban development said Tuesday.

Huang Ju, secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, told the conference that the suburbs will play an increasingly important role in Shanghai's economic and social developments.

At present, one third of Shanghai's Gross Domestic Product is generated in the suburbs. Moreover, half of the city's industrial output is contributed by rural areas.

The Shanghai municipal government has taken measures to move infrastructural construction priorities from urban regions to suburbs, and aims to bridge the gap between urban and rural areas in terms of cultural activities, education, employment, consumption and social security within the next 10 to 15 years.

Shanghai Mayor Chen Liangyu said that to further urbanize and modernize the suburban areas will be one of the priorities for the local government in the foreseeable future.

Sources say that 11 new towns and 22 new villages will come into a complete shape in Shanghai's suburbs by 2010.

Statistics show that over one million urban residents have moved to Shanghai's suburbs in the past few decades, laying a solid foundation for further merging the suburbs with the city proper.

( People's Daily April 3, 2002)