BEIJING -- Effective investment spurred by urbanization and upgraded consumption by the growing middle class will serve as China's new growth engines in the coming years, according to an economist with a Shanghai-based brokerage.

Compared with advanced economies, China still requires plenty of investment to improve its infrastructure, but the key will be enhancing the effectiveness of new investments, said Shao Yu, chief economist with Orient Securities.

"Hundreds of millions of Chinese urban dwellers must improve their quality of life, and a long list of inter-city trains, subways, underground pipelines, and educational and medical facilities is needed," Shao said in a recent article carried by Shanghai Securities News.

The ballooning middle class can become another growth engine as consumers eye higher quality and emerging services such as tourism, entertainment, information, mobile payments and sports, he added.

Chinese businesses should focus on providing products equal to imported ones in quality and meet the demands of the middle class when providing services, he stressed.