By LI Linxu

As China's urbanization gains momentum, urban infrastructure plays an ever-increasing role in modern city life.

To keep up with people's expanding needs for a better city life, a new urban infrastructure construction plan was released recently by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the National Development and Reform Commission.

By 2025, the systematization level, operation efficiency, and risk prevention capabilities of urban infrastructure will be markedly improved, according to the plan.

It vows to solve the problems of big cities and make up for the short board of infrastructure in small-medium cities.

By 2035, a modern urban infrastructure system that is systematic, sound, efficient, smart, green, safe and reliable will be established, said the plan.

By then, its overall quality, operation efficiency, and service and management level is expected to be on par with international advanced levels.

Systematic, quality, green, low carbon, resilient and smart are the key words for the construction of urban infrastructure.

By 2025, green communities will account for 60 percent of the total, according to the plan, setting up a series of key development indicators.

As to information infrastructure, 5G user penetration rate in cities is poised to surpass 56 percent by 2025.

Ping'anli Station in the Line 19 of Beijing Subway. (PHOTO: VCG)

In recent years, significant achievements have been made in the country's urban infrastructure construction.

Statistics show that China's urban road length has reached 493,000 km in 2020, a 35.1 percent growth from that of 2015.

And more roads are on the way. The density of road networks will reach 8 km/square km, up 0.93 km/square km from the 2020 level, as per the plan.

Key tasks are laid out in the construction plan, such as coordinating construction planning, boosting supply capacity, enhancing safety and resilience, improving operation efficiency, advancing co-construction and sharing, and speeding up digital upgrades.

Major campaigns will also be carried out to improve the quality of urban infrastructure, including transportation, water systems, and environment.