Infrastructure construction in many cities is accelerating. Recently, Tianjin, Henan, Anhui and other places have issued relevant construction plans, from the construction of new infrastructure to upgrade the level of digitalization and intelligence, to the renovation and upgrading of traditional facilities in the fields of transportation and logistics, flood control and drainage, and garbage disposal. A package of projects has accelerated the filling of urban shortcomings, improved the comprehensive functions of cities, made cities safer, smarter and greener, and improved the quality of urban life.
See the whole city on one screen — — This is the monitoring system for the safe operation of urban lifeline engineering, which has been applied in many cities in Anhui, Guangdong, Sichuan and other provinces. From the buried pipe network to the bridge standing in the air, it is marked on the screen of the safety monitoring center. Click anywhere, and the data information is clearly visible.
The reporter learned that according to this information, we can assess the risk of every pipe network bridge in the city, perceive the abnormal data in time, and eliminate the risk in the bud. For example, in the past, bridge inspection was generally carried out according to the safety condition for one year or more, but through monitoring equipment such as sensors installed on the bridge, real-time monitoring of pressure and other data was realized to ensure the safe operation of the bridge.
In addition, road flooding warning and billboard falling warning … … Such intelligent terminal "neurons" are accelerating their extension in cities.
This year, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development started the lifeline safety project of urban infrastructure, and built an operation monitoring platform covering key areas such as bridges, water supply, heat and utility tunnel. Ni Hong, Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, said that as an important part of urban renewal and new urban infrastructure construction, the project aims to improve the city’s ability to ensure supply, smoothness and safety, and improve the city’s resilience.
Recently, a package of local specific construction plans has been launched one after another. According to the three-year action plan for lifeline safety engineering construction of urban infrastructure in Henan Province released on August 28th, all counties (cities) in Henan Province will monitor the safe operation of gas, drainage, bridges, heat, water supply and utility tunnel in the urban built-up area before the end of 2025. Anhui Province has made it clear that the urban lifeline project will be expanded to more new fields such as elevator safety and rail transit.
Liu Qiang, deputy director of the Center for Urban and Small Town Reform and Development of the National Development and Reform Commission, said in an interview with the Economic Information Daily that China’s urbanization process has entered the second half, and cities need to better meet people’s yearning for a better life. At present, the infrastructure of most cities can generally meet the daily needs of residents, but in the face of special circumstances such as emergency disasters, the load is often limited, and it is difficult to "convert from emergency to emergency", which greatly restricts the improvement of urban resilience. On the other hand, some new infrastructure needs to strengthen the layout construction, which is related to the informationization, digitalization and intelligent transformation of the whole city. It has strong network effect and first-Mover advantage and needs to be deployed in advance.
The construction of new urban infrastructure has been accelerated, and the traditional urban facilities in the fields of transportation and logistics, flood control and drainage, and garbage disposal have been continuously upgraded.
The reporter was informed that taking the opportunity of the Chengdu Universiade, Chengdu has built a number of major urban infrastructures, especially "invisible projects": rebuilding rainwater and sewage pipelines for about 20 kilometers, and upgrading micro-pipe corridors and other comprehensive pipe networks simultaneously to consolidate the "lining" of urban infrastructure. In addition, the relevant person in charge of Chengdu Chengtou Group told reporters that in order to promote the sustainable development of the city and the green and low-carbon transformation, Chengdu Chengtou continued to promote the energy-saving transformation of urban lighting facilities. Last year, more than 65,000 lamps were replaced, with a comprehensive energy-saving rate of 47%.
More urban infrastructure construction projects will continue to advance. The press conference held by Chengdu Bureau of Ecology and Environment on August 29th revealed that in order to fill the shortcomings of environmental infrastructure, Chengdu will continue to promote the construction of 13 district (city) and county kitchen waste treatment projects, 5 construction waste resource utilization projects and 11 domestic waste transfer stations.
According to the "Implementation Plan for Urban Infrastructure Construction in Tianjin during the 14th Five-Year Plan" issued on August 7th, Tianjin will carry out infrastructure renovation in many aspects, such as urban lighting energy saving, waterlogging control and sewage treatment. Among them, the old sewage pipe network will be upgraded, and by 2025, the centralized collection rate of urban domestic sewage will be no less than 70%.
In Liu Qiang’s view, to speed up the construction of urban infrastructure, it is necessary to combine the specific conditions of cities of different scales and different stages of development to "prescribe the right medicine". "In cities of different sizes, the specific contradictions are also different. For areas in the middle stage of urbanization, the problems are that the efficiency of resource allocation and facilities utilization needs to be improved, and the docking between service supply and residents’ needs needs to be strengthened. For big cities with mature development stage, the main problem is that many municipal facilities are outdated and aging, resulting in poor experience and potential safety risks. The renovation of old residential areas and urban villages, the renewal of old pipes for gas heating water, and the collection and disposal of sewage and garbage have all been placed in a more critical position. "
It is worth mentioning that urban infrastructure construction is not only a livelihood project, but also a development project, which is one of the important aspects of steady growth and structural adjustment. According to the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, according to incomplete statistics, in 2022, 571 cities across the country implemented about 65,000 urban renewal projects with a total investment of about 5.8 trillion yuan.
However, people in the industry also pointed out that how to effectively get through the capital blocking point, optimize the capital structure and mobilize the participation enthusiasm of multi-party capital will be a long-term problem facing urban infrastructure construction.
The reporter noted that in promoting urban infrastructure construction, many places have emphasized innovative capital investment methods and operational mechanisms, further broadened infrastructure financing channels, and encouraged social capital to participate in infrastructure construction, operation, maintenance and services.
Liu Qiang said that encouraging, supporting and guiding multi-party entities and diversified funds to participate in the project of improving urban infrastructure is not only an inevitable requirement for giving full play to the effective market and the joint efforts of the government, but also a positive response to the proper meaning of "people’s cities are built by the people and people’s cities are for the people". He suggested that the top-level design of local implementation should be strengthened. Based on the interests of all local parties and the unique attributes of the project, the planning and design should be scientifically formulated, the entry cost of market funds should be actively reduced, and efforts should be made to balance the public welfare and commercialization of construction projects. At the same time, stimulate the participation enthusiasm of social subjects. It is necessary to actively play the role of the government as a "microphone" and "baton" in eliminating information asymmetry and guiding the flow of funds, and fully respect the advantages of market-oriented institutions in value discovery and creation, project operation and maintenance.