China will build and renovate 770,000 kilometers of urban underground pipelines during the 15th Five-Year Plan period from 2026 to 2030, an official said at a press conference in Beijing on Monday.
The country's existing urban underground pipelines run a total length of 3.9 million kilometers, with the total built up utility tunnels running 7,700 kilometers, said Chen Shaopeng, director of the building energy efficiency and sci-tech department at the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.
This year, China is mulling multi-trillion-yuan investment through a "Six Networks" initiative, as the country works to expand domestic demand and stabilize economic growth, with the "Six Networks" including water networks, new-type power grids, computing power networks, next-generation communication networks, urban underground pipeline networks and logistics networks.
As one of the "Six Networks," urban underground pipeline networks comprises of gas, water supply, drainage, sewage, heating pipelines and utility tunnels.
Chen said, during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China plans to build and renovate 200,000 kilometers of gas pipelines, 175,000 kilometers each of drainage and water supply pipelines, 100,000 kilometers of sewage pipelines, and 120,000 kilometers of heating pipelines.
"[We will] advance the construction and renovation of urban drainage facilities, including drainage pipes and canals, pumping stations, flood discharge channels, storage facilities and smart platforms. For water supply networks, the focus is on upgrading aging and damaged city water distribution pipes. As for gas pipeline networks, the priority is renovating pipelines with outdated materials and serious corrosion. For heating networks, the focus is on carrying out the urban heating 'warmth project' and accelerating the renovation of aging heating pipelines and inefficient heat exchange stations," said Chen.
Guan Peng, director of the Department of Fixed Asset Investment with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said at the press conference that the NDRC and the Ministry have actively supported underground pipeline projects through ultra-long special treasury bonds.
"In 2026, a fund of 160 billion yuan (about 23.6 billion U.S. dollars) in [ultra-long special treasury bond] has been arranged, 25 billion yuan more than the previous year, to [actively] support the construction and renovation of urban underground pipeline networks, including gas, drainage, water supply and heating," said Guan.
Alongside physical construction and renovation, relevant departments will strengthen digital monitoring of urban infrastructure, enabling real-time supervision, dynamic risk alerts and rapid emergency response.
China to build, renovate 770,000 km of urban underground pipelines
China to build, renovate 770,000 km of urban underground pipelines
