On February 3, it was learned from the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development that, in order to accelerate the advancement of sponge city construction across the province, Jiangxi has set its urban "sponge-ization" construction targets: from 2017 to 2019, each locality must build, in principle, no less than 6% of the built-up urban area as sponge city area each year.
In sponge city construction, planning is the leader. The preparation of various urban plans in Jiangxi Province must fully reflect the requirements of sponge city construction. When preparing overall urban planning, each locality must incorporate the concept of sponge city construction and take the annual runoff total control rate as a binding indicator of the overall urban plan. Indicators related to sponge city construction must be included as control indicators in regulatory detailed plans, determining indicators such as the permeable pavement rate, sunken green space rate, and rainwater storage volume within each plot; the content of sponge city construction must be implemented in site detailed plans, specifying the type, layout, scale, and construction schedule of engineering facilities such as roof rainwater utilization and other storage facilities.
Starting this year, each district-level city must report on sponge city construction on a quarterly basis, and the Provincial Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development will carry out supervision, inspection, and assessment of sponge city construction in due course. Each locality should actively promote the government and social capital cooperation model, attracting social capital to invest in, construct, and operate sponge city engineering facilities. Policy guidance and incentives should be strengthened. For various construction projects that carry out sponge city engineering facility construction, upon confirmation by relevant departments, approval may be expedited by reference to key projects in each locality; engineering facilities such as rainwater storage facilities newly added due to the needs of sponge city construction may be counted toward the green space rate indicator.