China Plans to Upgrade Urban Aging Pipelines (Part 2)

▲Occupation hazard examination of gas pipelines in Chaoyang District, Beijing. [People]

3. Accelerate the organization and implementation.

3.1 Strengthen the integrated coordination.

Consolidate the responsibilities of the city （county） government, establish and improve the renewal and upgrading work mechanism for urban aging pipelines that are coordinated by the government, implemented by professional units and jointly managed by all relevant departments, clarify the division of responsibilities of relevant departments, sub-district/township, communities, and professional units to form a joint effort to solve problems on time.

3.2 Speed up the implementation of the project.

Professional units should assume the primary responsibilities to implement renewal and upgrading projects of aging pipelines such as urban gas pipelines, and orderly arrange construction areas, time sequences and periods to reduce traffic disruption. Strictly enforce the due obligation of project quality and construction safety to impede hidden quality and safety risks, do a good job of safety monitoring of key aspects such as the connection of gas and water after pipeline upgrading according to regulations, and complete project acceptance and submission. Construction notification and supervision and inspection of gas pressure pipelines should be put into effect under the law.

3.3 Advance the construction with digital, networked and intelligent features.

Combined with the renewal and upgrading work, improve the gas supervision system and include the upgrading information of aging urban gas pipelines promptly to ensure dynamic supervision, interconnection and data sharing of urban gas pipelines and facilities. The gas supervision system can be fully integrated with the comprehensive management information platforms for urban municipal infrastructure and City Information Modeling platform, and effectively connected with the territorial basic information platform as well as urban safety risk monitoring and early warning platform to improve the operational efficiency and safety of urban pipelines and facilities, and facilitate online monitoring, early warning and emergency response to the leakage of the pipeline, operation safety and important enclosed places around.

3.4 Reinforce the operational maintenance of pipelines and facilities.

Professional operating units shall fulfill maintenance responsibility under local governments’ supervision. Professional units shall strengthen the capability of operation and maintenance, regularly carry out inspection, checkup, testing, and maintenance to timely detect and eliminate potential safety risks, and prevent pipelines and facilities from operating with problems. Besides, these units shall improve the emergency rescue mechanism to enhance the ability of emergency disposal. Encourage professional units to undertake the operation and maintenance of gas pipelines and facilities owned by non-residential users. For the gas pipelines and facilities shared by the owners, they can be transferred to professional operating units to operate and upgrade after renewal and upgrading in the future.

4. Boost the policy support.

4.1 Fund contributing responsibility of professional operating units shall be assumed while a reasonable fund-sharing mechanism shall be established.

Professional operating units shall fulfill their responsibilities to fund the renewal and upgrading of urban gas pipelines within their service scope under the law. A fund-sharing mechanism for the renewal and upgrading of urban gas pipelines by professional units, governments and users shall be established. Investment from the central government budget and local financial subsidies can be given to support the projects. Commercial and industrial users shall contribute funds for the upgrading of aging urban gas pipelines with their exclusive responsibilities.

4.2 Increase funding support.

Provinces, cities, and counties shall follow the principle of doing everything within their capacity to keep increasing funding for the renewal and upgrading of urban gas pipelines and other aging pipelines while clarifying the responsibilities of funding contribution. Eligible urban gas pipelines and other aging renewal and upgrading projects shall be supported with special-purposed bonds issued by the local government, and illegal debt financing shall not be used for renewal and upgrading projects. New hidden debts of local government must be eliminated. Central-budget investment shall provide subsidies to the renewal and upgrading projects based on reality.

4.3 Strengthen financing support.

Encourage commercial banks to increase credit support for aging pipeline renewal and upgrading projects by the law while managing risks and pursuing sustained development; encourage development and policy-backed financial institutions to provide credit support for aging pipeline renewal and upgrading projects through market-oriented and law-based means. Support professional operating units to adopt a market-oriented approach and use corporate credit bonds and project revenue notes for bonding financing. Prioritize the eligible, completed renewal and upgrading projects of urban pipelines to apply for the pilot infrastructure projects of the real estate investment trust.

4.4 Implement tax cuts supporting policies.

For the relevant charges in terms of road excavation and repair, garden green space compensation, etc. involved in the urban aging gas pipeline renewal and upgrading projects, all localities shall well coordinate the funds according to the principle of “cost compensation”。 After the renewal and upgrading, the professional units will shoulder the responsibility for the operation and maintenance of the common gas pipelines and facilities shared by the owners. All the operation and maintenance costs after the transfer of responsibility are tax-deductible under the regulation.

5. Improve supporting policies.

5.1 Accelerate the project approval procedures.

Local governments shall streamline approval procedures and establish a fast approval mechanism for upgrading projects of gas and other pipelines. Upgrading project plans can be reviewed and approved by the relevant departments under the organization of the city （county） government. Encourage all relevant parties to conduct a one-time acceptance and approve large-scale gas companies with sound regulatory systems to inspect and examine pipelines and facilities.

5.2 Do a good job in price management.

Investment, repair and safety production prices of aging pipeline renewal including gas, water, heating, etc. shall be well managed under the cost regulations. On the basis of cost supervision and review, with comprehensively considering factors such as local economic development and users’ affordability, the prices of gas, water and heating can be adjusted under the regulations; the difference in revenue resulting from the adjustment procedure that should be allocated to the future regulatory cycle for compensation.

5.3 Reinforce technical standards support.

The application of new equipment, technologies and crafts shall be promoted to enhance the safety of pipelines and facilities as well as the operation of information and smart technologies. Speed up the revision of relevant standards such as safety technical regulations for the operation, maintenance and emergency repair of urban gas facilities, and improve the standards and specifications for key fields such as urban pipeline safety guarantee and disaster emergency management. The upgrading projects of urban aging gas pipelines must implement the current technical standards.

5.4 Strengthen market governance and supervision.

Improve the regulations such as gas business license management measures and local implementation rules respectively, clarify access conditions while setting up exit mechanisms, and control the gas business license to effectively strengthen the supervision of gas companies. Intensify the supervision of products, appliances and equipment related to the renewal of urban aging gas pipelines. And make the development of the gas market larger in size and more specialized.

5.5 Promote the standards and procedures of law-based management.

Study to promote the legislative work of underground pipeline management, further standardize the industry running, and strengthen the construction, operation, maintenance, and management of urban gas pipelines. Accelerate the local legislative work of pipelines in terms of gas and other types, establish a sound legal system and refine the management requirements according to local conditions. Effectively improve the law enforcement of illegal construction demolition, and solve the issues arising in the urban pipeline protection including construction damage by the third-party, illegal occupation, insufficient safety distance, and difficulty in sharing underground information.

5.6 Secure the organizations.

Provincial governments shall, in combination with the implementation of national policies, strengthen the overall guidance on upgrading urban aging pipelines, clarify the responsibilities of local governments, and accelerate the promotion of all relevant work. Each relevant department needs to further improve public awareness of related policies and measures concerning the renewal of urban aging pipelines with a timely response.

Source:

http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/content/2022-06/10/content_5695096.htm

http://english.www.gov.cn/policies/latestreleases/202206/10/content_WS62a312dfc6d02e533532bf63.html