China aims to renovate 50,000 urban residential communities this year

China aims to renovate 50,000 old urban residential communities this year as the country strives to promote urban renewal projects, said Ni Hong, minister of housing and urban-rural development.

About 66,000 urban renewal projects were carried out across the country last year, and 2.6 trillion yuan ($361.8 billion) of investment was made in these projects, the minister said in a news conference held on the sidelines of the second session of the 14th National People's Congress.

Of them, 53,000 ones are newly launched projects for the renovation of old urban residential communities, he said. These renovation projects benefit 22 million residents.

He said 36,000 elevators were added to existing buildings, 850,000 parking lots were built, and 21,000 facilities for childcare and elderly care were constructed in these old communities.

"These tasks are not easy. It needs the consensus of all residents in a building to add the elevator. There should be suitable spaces to build the parking lots. Sometimes lots of difficulties were needed to be addressed to fulfill one task," he said.

"No matter how difficult it is, we need to seek solutions to address the difficulties, and make sure every project we launch can be accomplished and benefit residents," he said.

He said the ministry will also accelerate the renovation of urban underground pipe networks for natural gas, water and heat supply, and sewage collection, while also renovating at least 100,000 kilometers of pipelines this year.

The minister noted safety management in urban operation as another priority for the ministry this year.

"The ministry will further enhance real-time monitoring of urban facilities with the help of digital technologies, to ensure that "problems can be unearthed and addressed as early as possible," he said.

"Ni said the ministry will also strive to beef up flood control capabilities in urban areas. Projects will be launched in 100 cities to transform 1,000 locations that are prone to be hit by flood," he said.