Building a modern people's city to achieve high-quality development of housing and urban-rural construction - Interview with Ni Hong, Secretary of the Party Group and Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

The "15th Five-Year Plan" proposes important deployments around "deepening the new type of urbanization centered on people" and "promoting high-quality development of real estate." Specific measures such as "implementing urban renewal vigorously" and "accelerating the construction of a new model for real estate development" are put forward. The recently held Central Economic Work Conference also clearly requires "focusing on stabilizing the real estate market." With the new start of the "15th Five-Year Plan," how will urban renewal be promoted? What are the focal points of high-quality development in the real estate sector? How will the upgrade of "Made in China" be carried out in which aspects? Xinhua News Agency interviewed Ni Hong, Secretary of the Party Group and Minister of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. Strive to achieve a good start in the high-quality development of housing and urban-rural construction Q: The "15th Five-Year Plan" period is a key period for laying a solid foundation and making comprehensive efforts to basically achieve socialist modernization. What considerations does the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development have for achieving high-quality development in housing and urban-rural construction? A: During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, housing and urban-rural construction is generally in a key period of transformation and development, accompanied by many challenges and rare opportunities. 2026 is the year when the "15th Five-Year Plan" begins. The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development will vigorously implement the urban renewal action, promote the high-quality development of the real estate sector, promote the upgrading of the construction industry, build modern people's cities that are innovative, livable, beautiful, resilient, civilized, and smart, and strive to achieve a good start in the high-quality development of housing and urban-rural construction. We will adhere to the development of urban connotation, take urban renewal as an important pivot, coordinate the implementation of the important tasks of "optimization and six constructions," coordinate the construction of the urban renewal system and mechanism, systematically promote the construction of "good houses, good communities, good neighborhoods, and good urban areas," to create high-quality living spaces for the people. We will promote the high-quality development of the real estate sector. Firmly grasping the basic point of enabling the people to live in peace, coordinating risk prevention and transformation promotion, coordinating livelihood improvement and stable growth, focusing on stabilizing the real estate market, accelerating the construction of a new model for real estate development, optimizing the supply of affordable housing, and meeting the diverse housing needs of the people with high-quality supply. We will create an upgraded version of "Chinese construction." With the fundamental goal of providing high-quality building products, coordinating between "flexibility" and "good management," coordinating between the domestic and international markets, giving prominence to technological innovation applications, vigorously developing smart construction, green construction, cultivating new productive forces in the construction industry, and improving the whole-life safety management system. Taking the problems identified in urban health check-ups as a key focus, driving urban renewal with high quality Q: The "15th Five-Year Plan" proposals and the Central Economic Work Conference have both made deployments for urban renewal. How will the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development implement this in the next steps? A: In the past year, significant progress has been made in urban renewal work. In the country, 26,000 old residential areas in towns have been renovated, 14,000 elevators have been installed, improving living conditions and benefiting more than 4.7 million residents; over 4,700 "pocket parks" and over 5,800 kilometers of urban greenways have been created, enhancing the urban living environment; and 156,000 kilometers of underground pipe networks have been constructed or renovated. The key to high-quality progress in urban renewal is to identify problems accurately and effectively solve them. We will adhere to the principle of conducting health check-ups before renewal, focusing on the problems identified in urban health check-ups, and coordinate the implementation of a series of projects that benefit the people, promote development, and ensure safety. The first is livelihood projects. Continuing to promote the renovation of old residential areas in towns; comprehensively promote the construction of complete communities; carry out renovations of urban micro public spaces, increase community parks and pocket parks around residents, and promote the opening and sharing of more parks and green spaces. The second is development projects. High-quality implementation of "two reductions" and "two new" project construction, continuous construction of underground pipe networks and comprehensive pipe corridors, regular promotion of renovations of aging gas pipelines and other municipal facilities; renovating old neighborhoods and old industrial areas to create a number of quality streets and vibrant areas; protecting and repairing historical and cultural districts and historical buildings. The third is security projects. To build a modern people's city, we must firmly maintain the bottom line of urban safety. Continuously build urban drainage and flood control engineering systems to ensure urban flood safety; accelerate the construction of urban infrastructure lifeline safety projects; establish a full-life safety management system for buildings through the establishment of building health check-ups, building safety management funds, building insurance, etc., guaranteeing the safe use of buildings. To implement these projects well, we will focus on building three policy systems: one is a policy and institutional system that is compatible with urban renewal, the second is a planning and implementation system from specialized planning to district planning to project implementation plans, and the third is a sustainable urban development operation and investment system. Accelerating transformation and upgrading to promote high-quality development of the real estate sector Q: The "15th Five-Year Plan" proposals put forward the promotion of high-quality development of the real estate sector. The Central Economic Work Conference requires a focus on stabilizing the real estate market. What are the key considerations for the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development in real estate work in 2026? A: China's new urbanization is still advancing, there is ample room for optimizing and adjusting the existing urban areas, people have high expectations for high-quality housing, and there is still great potential for high-quality development in the real estate sector. Real estate is immovable property, and the real estate market is a market unit based on cities. City governments should make full use of their autonomy in regulation. In the next step, we will continue to adhere to city-specific policies, precise policies, and tailored policies, control incremental development, reduce inventory, improve supply, play the role of the real estate financing "white list" system, support reasonable financing needs of real estate enterprises, support the rigid and improved housing needs of residents, and promote the stable operation of the real estate market. The key to the high-quality development of the real estate sector is to accelerate transformation and upgrading. We will focus on two aspects of work. Firstly, systematically promote the construction of "good houses." In recent years, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development has adhered to the coordination of multiple parties including the government, enterprises, and society, and promoted the construction of "good houses" from five aspects: standards, design, materials, construction, and operation and maintenance, which has gained momentum. Last year, the new version of the "Residential Project Standards" was issued and implemented, with 14 upgrades. The recently issued opinions on improving housing quality made a comprehensive deployment for the construction of "good houses." The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development will guide local areas to implement it well, continue to focus on standards, design, materials, construction, and operation and maintenance to build "good houses," not only turning new houses into "good houses," but also gradually transforming old houses into "good houses," driving the upgrading of the industry chain, and providing "good houses" with safety, comfort, greenness, and intelligence to meet the diverse housing needs of the people. Secondly, accelerate the construction of a new model for real estate development. Firmly grasp the basic point of enabling the people to live in peace, adhere to policy support and reform innovation, promote the establishment of a mechanism for the coordinated operation of human, house, land, and money elements, to ensure a smooth and orderly transition of old and new models. The focus next will be on the orderly construction of the basic systems for real estate development, financing, and sales. In real estate development, implement the project company system, with project companies exercising independent legal rights in accordance with the law, and enterprise headquarters fulfilling investor responsibilities, strictly prohibiting the misappropriation of project company funds, fund diversion, or premature dividends by enterprise headquarters before project delivery, ensuring closed and dedicated management of project funds. In real estate financing, establish the lead bank system, with one bank or a bank consortium selected as the lead bank for each project, with all funds for project development, construction, and sales deposited in the lead bank to meet the reasonable financing needs of project companies. In the sales of commercial housing, promote the current housing sales system, to achieve "seeing what you get" and fundamentally prevent delivery risks. For continued presales, regulate the supervision of presale funds to effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of homebuyers. Promoting the upgrading of the construction industry to create an upgraded version of "Chinese construction" Q: The "15th Five-Year Plan" proposals suggest "optimizing and upgrading traditional industries" and "promoting the high-quality development of key industries." Where will the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development focus its efforts on the development of the construction industry? A: "Chinese construction" has strongly supported the economic and social development of our country, with a number of world-class major projects such as the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, the Daxing International Airport, and a series of major constructions such as shield machines, bridge machines, and building machines that have won global acclaim, as well as iconic achievements of the Belt and Road Initiative such as the Ya'an Railway and the Luzhniki Stadium. During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development will focus on providing high-quality building products as the fundamental goal, cultivating new quality productivity in the construction industry, promoting the upgrading of the construction industry, and creating an upgraded version of "Chinese construction." Key efforts will be made in four areas. Firstly, focus on the industry. With a prominent focus on technological innovation and application, vigorously develop new construction methods such as smart construction, promote the formation of corresponding engineering organization and implementation methods, and cultivate a modernized construction industry workforce. Secondly, focus on the market. Reform and improve the construction market mechanism, allowing flexibility while ensuring good management, stimulating the vitality and motivation of operators, managing what needs to be managed through standardization, informatization, and the rule of law, and building a construction market environment of integrity, fair competition, and pursuit of quality. Thirdly, focus on the construction site. Adhere to quality orientation, coordinate forces from standards, technology, materials, management, regulations, and other aspects to improve building quality. Embed safety concepts into the design, construction, and operation and maintenance processes, promote the establishment of a full-life safety management system for buildings, and ensure a stronger safeguard of safety bottom line. Fourthly, focus on "going global." Leveraging the overall advantages of "Chinese construction," integrating the upstream and downstream industries of the construction industry, encouraging and supporting construction enterprises to "go global," steadily improving the position and competitiveness of the construction industry in the global industrial division of labor. This article is reprinted from "Xinhua News Agency"; GMTEight editor: Huang Xiaodong.