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Tony Abbott wants tosee cranes standingabove the cities ofAustralia. First he’llhave to come towestern China andthe ancient city of

Chongqing because that’s whereit appears almost all the world’scranes are being used.

A city that dates its historyback more than 2000 years, itspopulation is growing nearly200,000 residents a year.

Within three blocks of theabsolute centre of the city — acentre dominated by hugeCartier, Rolex and Louis Vuittonadvertisements — there are afew 50 storey-plus skyscrapersbeing built.

And across the Yangtze Riverin the “new Chongqing” morethan a dozen high cranes arebeing put to use buildinghigh-rise apartments.

And even at the end of thecity’s main airport there arealmost 30 high cranes workingon new residential and businessdevelopments.

A decade ago Shanghai waswhere almost 50 per cent of theworld’s high cranes were beingused. While that city continuesto grow at a mind-boggling pace,the cranes have movedwestwards to centres such asChongqing, which has averagedeconomic growth of 14 per cent ayear for the past five years.

For most Australians,Chongqing is unknown.

History-minded people mightrecognise it as the capital ofChina during World War II. Now,however, it is just a city thatmost have never heard of.

But later this month directflights will commence betweenSydney and Chongqing. Thecity’s airport already handlesmore than 22 million passengersa year — almost double thenumber through Perth Airport.

In a city with so manyskyscrapers it is perhaps not asurprise that Australiancompany Eastern Elevator hasestablished its Chineseheadquarters in Chongqing.

The city is also home to carmanufacturers including Ford,Suzuki, Fiat and China’s Chery.Australia’s DSI, which supplies

drivetrains and clutches, has setup in Chongqing to supply theindustry.

And 100km away, through aseries of tunnels and bridges, isChongqing Iron and Steel whereyou can watch WA iron oreunloaded from ships that havemade their way up the Yangtze.

The steel that is made willfind its way to the nearby carmanufacturers.

Looking at all the cranes andall the construction it’s easy toget carried away about China’seconomic future.

It can be too easy to miss theforest for all the 50-storeyconcrete and steel trees.

Many big apartment blocksare being built but there iscontinuing doubt about who willlive in them — China is gettingricher quickly but that wealth isnot being spread evenly.

The country also is spendinghundreds of billions of dollarscreating the world’s biggesthigh-speed rail network. About$24 billion is being sunk into ahigh-speed rail link to the farwestern city of Urumqi.

It seems to have been built tosatisfy political concerns aboutwestern provinces where largeminorities, or in some cases

ethnic majorities, are not soenamoured of Beijing’s form ofgovernment.

At $24 billion, that’s a lot ofcash to make a political point.Yet it marches on, with punditssurprised by the public usage ofthe 10,000km of high-speed railalready in existence. And it hastaken some pressure off theairport system.

Closer to home, Mr Abbott hasmade plenty of political mileagein his focus on building majorroad projects in Sydney,Melbourne and Brisbane.

At the same time, he has madeclear his Government’s distastetowards funding urban railprojects, much to the chagrin ofColin Barnett and Troy Buswell.

But driving around Shanghai,Chongqing and Beijing as I havefor the past fortnight, it’s clearthat roads are not the singleanswer for the mass transit ofmillions of people.

Shanghai is clearly beingconsumed by cars. It is acombination of a population thatis rapidly becoming morewealthy, enabling more andmore people to buy a car to puton to a road system alreadycongested beyond belief.

Beijing’s 10-lane ring roads

are something to behold. Butthey are also choking, as are theresidents as smog combineswith dust to make face masksmore than a fashion accessory.

And Chongqing is in adifficult situation because thetown centre is so mountainousthat moving goods, let alonepeople, is extremely difficult.

Especially when you’re addingthousands of people a week tothe city. In each case, authoritiesare trying to deal with theavalanche of cars with policiessuch as taxing lightly smallengine vehicles orexperimenting with publictransport — Chongqing has amonorail-type Metro thateffectively runs through somebuildings as well as a type ofsubway.

Figures out last week from theAustralian Bureau of Statisticssuggest Perth will overtakeBrisbane as the nation’s thirdbiggest city by 2028, with apopulation of three million.

Given the space which Perth— with a populationapproaching two million — hasmanaged to absorb it seemsmore than downright stupid toexpect an extra millionresidents, and their near

quarter-acre blocks, to only usea crowded road system to moveabout. While much is made ofthe way China residents arebuying more cars as they getricher, a less remarked-ondevelopment is also under wayin Australia.

Whereas Chinese residentsare buying their first car, inAustralia more and more peoplehave two or three cars.

Congestion on roads is worsein Sydney, where publictransport is an extended fourletter word, and Melbourne.

Infrastructure is more thanjust roads. It is aboutintegration, recognising thatpeople need to go about theirbusiness and getting it in placewith an eye to the future as wellas present day costs.

Focusing on one mode oftransport in a country that isgrowing fast is asking fortrouble. And the politicalleaders who make the decisionstoday won’t be around to facethe consequences of theirmissteps.

That goes as much for theleaders of the ChineseCommunist Party as thoseinhabiting the Commonwealthand State government benches.

Onwards, upwards: Construction work on the Wayaobao Bridge, part of the Yuiang Highway in Chongqing municipality, China. Picture: Getty Images

Chinese boom has a message■ Shane Wright

Economics Editor

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17OPINION thewest.com.auMonday, January 6, 2014