The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development recently jointly issued the "Notice on Carrying Out the Urban Renewal Demonstration Work," which specifies that starting from 2024, the central government will innovate approaches and methods to support selected cities in carrying out urban renewal demonstration work, with priority given to supporting the renewal and renovation of urban infrastructure, further improving urban functions, enhancing urban quality, and improving the living environment, promoting the establishment of "good communities and good urban districts," facilitating the transformation of urban infrastructure construction from "whether it exists" to "whether it is good," focusing on resolving the urgent difficulties and anxieties of the people, and supporting high-quality urban development.

According to the notice, the Ministry of Finance, together with the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, will determine through competitive selection a number of cities with good foundational conditions, high enthusiasm, and distinctive characteristics to carry out typical demonstrations and steadily and orderly advance urban renewal actions. The central government will provide fixed-amount subsidies to the demonstration cities. The demonstration cities will formulate urban renewal work plans, coordinate the use of central and local funds, improve regulations and systems, planning standards, investment and financing mechanisms, and related supporting policies, and, in conjunction with key tasks such as the renewal and renovation of urban underground pipe networks, the construction and renovation of sewage pipe networks under the "integrated plant-network" model, the filling of gaps in municipal infrastructure, and the renewal and renovation of old districts, continuously advance urban renewal work.

The target recipients of the urban renewal demonstration work are cities at the prefecture level and above. In 2024, each province (autonomous region, municipality) may recommend one city for evaluation, and the first batch will select 15 demonstration cities, with priority given to megacities and super-large cities and large cities along the Yangtze River Economic Belt. The central government subsidy funds will focus on supporting the renewal and renovation of urban underground pipe networks and the construction and renovation of sewage pipe networks under the "integrated plant-network" model.

Demonstration cities must simultaneously meet the following basic conditions: establish an organizational leadership and coordination mechanism for advancing urban renewal work and formulate a demonstration city construction work plan; the city's financial resources should meet the needs of urban renewal investment, local government debt risk should be low, and no new hidden government debt may be created as a result of carrying out urban renewal; and in recent years, no major production safety accidents or major negative public opinion events have occurred in the field of housing and urban-rural development.

The selection of demonstration cities shall be determined through competitive review, with priority given to cities with solid foundational work, adequate conditions, and high enthusiasm.

The notice also clarifies the subsidy standards and scope of support. First, the central government financial subsidy standard. The central government will provide fixed-amount subsidies to demonstration cities by region, and funds will be allocated annually in place according to the progress of the work. Second, the direction of financial support. Demonstration cities will raise funds through multiple channels, systematically advance urban renewal actions, and coordinate the advancement of urban underground pipe network and utility tunnel construction, the construction and renovation of sewage pipe networks under the "integrated plant-network" model, the filling of gaps in municipal infrastructure, and the renewal and renovation of old districts, optimize urban spatial layout, and improve urban functions. Specifically, this includes the renewal and renovation of urban underground pipe networks, the construction of full-coverage model areas for urban sewage pipe networks, the filling of gaps in municipal infrastructure, and the renewal and renovation of old districts.

The notice proposes that through three years of demonstration, efforts will be made to steadily improve the level of intensive laying and safety of urban underground pipe networks, significantly enhance the efficiency of domestic sewage collection and treatment, effectively improve the weak links and shortcomings of municipal infrastructure, continuously promote the construction of livable environments in old districts, meet the people's needs for a high-quality life, and form replicable and promotable models and experience.