16 Cities Pilot "Sponge City" to Receive Substantial Central Subsidies
2016-10-27
738
0人评论
Sixteen cities including Nanning and Jinan will receive over 1 billion yuan in central financial subsidies for sponge city construction. This subsidy originates from the Ministry of Finance's notice on launching central financial support for sponge city pilot projects issued on February 31, 2014.
The notice states that the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Construction, and Ministry of Water Resources will advance the central financial support for sponge city pilot projects. The central government will provide special subsidies for sponge city construction pilots for a fixed period of three years. The specific subsidy amount will be determined by city size: 600 million yuan per year for municipalities directly under the central government, 500 million yuan per year for provincial capitals, and 400 million yuan per year for other cities. For projects that adopt the PPP model to a certain proportion, a 10% reward will be added to the above subsidy base.
More than 130 cities nationwide participated in the competition, and after screening, 34 entered the preliminary list. On March 4, the three ministries determined 22 cities to participate in the competitive review defense for national sponge city pilot cities, and finally 16 obtained the qualification for sponge cities.
On the evening of April 2, according to the Ministry of Finance website, the list of sponge city pilot cities was officially announced. Based on the competitive review scores, the top 16 cities are: Qian'an, Baicheng, Zhenjiang, Jiaxing, Chizhou, Xiamen, Pingxiang, Jinan, Hebi, Wuhan, Changde, Nanning, Chongqing, Suining, Gui'an New Area, and Xixian New Area.
Sponge city can fully utilize urban green spaces, roads, water systems, etc., to absorb, store, infiltrate, and slowly release rainwater, effectively alleviating urban waterlogging, reducing urban runoff pollution loads, conserving water resources, and protecting and improving the urban ecological environment.
Rainwater must be retained and properly treated
According to a previous notice from the Ministry of Finance, in 2015, proactive provinces first recommended one city each. After the provinces recommended cities, the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Construction, and Ministry of Water Resources conducted qualification reviews. Then, for cities that passed the qualification review, public defenses were organized in March, with experts conducting on-site reviews and announcing the results on site.
The qualification review requirements include: the city's development has a strong demand for drainage and flood control infrastructure construction, rainwater regulation and storage, and emergency management capabilities; the total area of the pilot region should be no less than 15 square kilometers in principle, and the multi-year average rainfall should be no less than 400 millimeters; priority is given to encouraging old city renovation projects, including urban water systems, urban gardens and green spaces, municipal roads, green building communities, etc.
The reporter learned that Chongqing is also among the 16 sponge pilot cities, but Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin were not selected. Some experts pointed out that although Beijing has begun to set up storage tanks under overpasses, they are mainly for drainage and are different from sponge cities.
Wang Lan, deputy secretary-general of the China Urban Water Supply and Drainage Association, pointed out that the main content of sponge cities is two-fold: rainwater must be retained, and secondly, it must be properly treated. However, few cities have achieved these two. "Changde has been doing such work for many years, while many cities are just starting," she said.
Wang Qun, secretary of the Changde Municipal Party Committee, pointed out at the competitive review defense meeting for applying for national sponge city pilot cities on March 27 that Changde has a total river and lake area of 780,000 mu, with an average annual runoff of 135.6 billion cubic meters, accounting for 48% of the total annual runoff into Dongting Lake. Changde has already had 10 years of exploration and practice. In earlier years, Changde compiled the "Water City Changde - Overall Plan for Water-Sensitive Urban Development and Sustainable Water Resource Utilization in Jiangbei Urban Area," and on this basis, compiled more than 20 related master plans and specialized plans with high standards.
In February this year, the Changde Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government established a leading group for advancing sponge city construction, planning to implement sponge city construction pilot demonstrations within the central urban area of nearly 42 square kilometers within three years, accelerating the creation of an ecologically livable Changde.
Large central subsidies
According to national policy, cities selected as sponge cities will receive substantial financial subsidies. Among them, Changde is expected to receive more than 1.2 billion yuan in national special subsidy funds, the highest single national urban construction subsidy in recent years.
Guangxi local media also pointed out that if Nanning is selected as a sponge pilot city, Nanning will receive more than 1.65 billion yuan in national special subsidy funds in the next three years for further optimizing urban infrastructure and improving the living environment.
According to the central financial subsidy of 600 million yuan per year for municipalities directly under the central government selected as sponge pilot cities, 1.8 billion yuan can be obtained in three years. However, Chongqing applied for the sponge city pilot unit in the name of Liangjiang New Area, so it is still difficult to determine whether it can receive 1.8 billion yuan in three years.
Li Fei, a professor at the School of Landscape Architecture, Beijing Forestry University, pointed out that building sponge cities requires huge funding. Sponge cities are still new to China, and it is not easy to retain rainwater. Nanjing's past implementation of rainwater and sewage separation is necessary, "but separation alone is not enough; the key is that rainwater can be stored and later utilized."
Sponge cities involve functions such as permeable asphalt and road surface permeability, which require special cement and brick surfaces, permeable asphalt, and involve huge funds.
Taking Changde as an example, the city has a total river and lake area of 780,000 mu, with an average annual rainfall of over 1,360 millimeters, and the pilot area for sponge cities can reach 118 square kilometers. By the end of 2014, more than 110 projects started in the urban area of Changde had completed 36, with an investment of 8 billion yuan.
评论 （0）