Chinanews, Chongqing, Oct 11 – In China, Chongqing has been chosen by the state as the only provincial-level city to apply a comprehensive reform in a unified urban-rural area. With this reform, a large-scale urbanization process is expected to take place in Chongqing in the coming years. By 2020, it is expected that the urban population in Chongqing will reach 21 million and the city’s urbanization level will reach upwards of 70%.On Tuesday, Chongqing vice city mayor Yu Yuanmu announced that the State Council had approved Chongqing’s unified rural-urban development program for the year 2007-2020. According to this development program, Chongqing will be positioned as one of the regional centers in China, a state-level historical and cultural city, an economic center at the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, an important manufacturing base in China and a transportation hub in the southwestern part of China.This was the first rural-urban development plan ever published by a city. It will become important guidelines for Chongqing to implement the state’s reform.According to the new development plan, Chongqing will be built into a metropolis by 2020. Included in this metropolis system are six large cities, including Wanzhou, Fuling, Jiangjin, Hechuan, Yongchuan and Changshou, 25 middle and small cities and 495 small towns. By 2020, the number of permanent residents in Chongqing will reach 31 million, with 21.6 million being urbanites.