Reports on shelved urbanization plan untrue

ZURICH, Switzerland - Media reports claiming that China's State Council has rejected a 40-trillion yuan ($6.5 trillion) urbanization plan are untrue, the chief of China's top planning agency said Friday.

Xu Shaoshi, head of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), told reporters that his agency has been finalizing the drafting work of the urbanization plan with other relevant departments, and has not yet handed in the plan to the State Council.

"How can it be possible that the State Council rejected a proposal that we have not yet submitted?" he said.

Xu, accompanying Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on a visit to Switzerland, added that the plan has not made an estimation of total investment.

"Urbanization is undoubtedly a very important strategic planning ... and the NDRC started researching the plan more than a year ago," Xu said, adding the plan emphasizes the "people first" principle.

"China's urbanization needs to learn from the experiences of other countries while taking into account its own reality," he said.