Municipal Asset Management in China's Small Cities and Towns : Findings and Strategies Ahead
Chinese municipalities have developed a large stock of capital assets during a period of rapid growth and urbanization, but have yet to modernize asset management practices. Cities face challenges such as premature decline of fixed assets and spiki...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/970471488824140310/Municipal-asset-management-in-Chinas-small-cities-and-towns http://hdl.handle.net/10986/26247 |
| Summary: | Chinese municipalities have developed a
large stock of capital assets during a period of rapid
growth and urbanization, but have yet to modernize asset
management practices. Cities face challenges such as
premature decline of fixed assets and spiking liabilities
related to operating and maintaining assets. This paper
evaluates the asset management practices in three selected
small cities and towns in China, using a benchmarking
assessment tool followed by an in-depth field assessment.
The paper finds that overall performance is below half the
international benchmark for good practice in all three
cities. Management practices are considerably more advanced
for land than for buildings and infrastructure. Key
deficiencies in data availability and reporting, governance,
capacity, and financial management indicate increased risks
for local government finance and the delivery of public
services. For small cities and towns where public revenues
are often uncertain and limited, urban public services will
be at risk of deterioration unless good asset management
practices are put in place. The paper recommends strategic
actions for upper and lower levels of government, to advance
local asset management practices and facilitate the reform agenda. |
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