Aerial photo taken on April 7, 2021 shows volunteers patrolling the lake to keep the water clean in Wuzhuang Village of Chun'an County, east China's Zhejiang Province. Volunteers are encouraged to take part in the ecological environment protection in the county.(Photo: Xinhua)

 
China’s top economic planner and other departments on Wednesday issued a joint notice with a clear target for improving urban development as part of the efforts for environmental protection. 

The notice said that by 2025, the supply capacity and level of urban environmental infrastructure will be significantly improved, and corresponding monitoring and supervision systems will be built that integrate the treatment of all kinds of waste including sewage, garbage, and hazardous and medical waste.

The notice came as the country is promoting the synergy of pollution reduction and carbon reduction, in striving to achieve the carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals, experts said.

By 2030, a modern environmental infrastructure system with complete systems, high efficiency, practicality, intelligence, greenness, safety and reliability will be basically established, the notice said.

In order to reach this goal, cities across the country are to achieve new sewage treatment capacity of 20 million cubic meters per day, build and renovate 80,000 kilometers of new and renovated sewage collection pipelines, and expand reclaimed water production capacity of not less than 15 million cubic meters per day, according to the notice.

The harmless disposal rate of urban sludge is also due to reach 90 percent by 2025.

In terms of domestic waste disposal, the sorting and transportation capacity of domestic waste is expected to reach about 700,000 tons per day, while the daily incineration processing capacity of urban domestic waste should reach around 800,000 tons.

The notice also pledged to improve the regional recycling and utilization system for renewable resources and to deal with bulk solid waste. About 100 demonstration parks will be built for tackling environmental pollution.

To achieve the goals, the government will strengthen financial support with measures such as including the eligible projects into the scope of local government special bond support.

Experts applauded the latest notice, noting that specifying the targets for urban environmental management is an indication of China's capability, especially in finance, that supports such an upgrade.

China's management of the urban environment has been consistent, especially in the past decade, with various policies being put in place, and the latest notice will raise the targets to a new level, Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

"The threshold for urban environmental governance has now been raised, which is also a reflection of the country's rising financial ability that supports such an upgrade," Lin said.