See here about ghost cities - "The unreal emptiness of China's Ghost cities": http://www.wired.com/2016/02/kai-caemmerer-unborn-cities/
Actually, it isn't. Over the last 2-3 years, China has been soliciting reporters and writers to come out and visit some of their "ghost towns", specifically, the few they've actually put some people in. They pay for the entire trip and basically give them the emperor treatment while there. The hope is that these writers will come back and write fluff pieces like this, they want to change public perception. I know they do this first-hand because my ex-roommate is a writer for a large well-known website and received such an offer. He had to turn it down because his wife was 8 months pregnant otherwise he would have went.
Oh, and your article talks about reasons for delays in getting people in there. I think the entire article is a load of BS (it's forbes, after all). Many of those ghost cities are beginning to fall into disrepair due to how long they've remained empty. At that point, justifications and excuses become a moot point.
If you trust any numbers China puts out publicly, I got a bridge to sell you...
China builds completely empty ghost cities to try and hold onto their GDP growth rates. Many of the older ghost cities are falling into disrepair because nobody is using them. They're becoming decrepit. Sure, there are a couple here and there where people actually moved in and use them, but the vast majority are still vacant and due to lack of maintenance, falling apart.
If that doesn't scream "hollow numbers" I don't know what does. Not to mention, China has routinely shown they will fudge the numbers without hesitation or care.