en.Wedoany.com Reported - Recently, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Ministry of Water Resources, and the Ministry of Finance of China jointly announced the results of the 2025 performance evaluation of the central financial subsidy for sponge city construction demonstration projects. Sanming City in Fujian Province, China, was again rated the highest grade, Grade A, becoming one of only four Grade A cities nationwide. The other three cities rated Grade A are Yangzhou City in Jiangsu Province, Mianyang City in Sichuan Province, and Linyi City in Shandong Province. Since being selected as one of the third batch of national sponge city construction demonstration cities in May 2023, Sanming has established a systematic construction system. The proportion of permeable ground area in the main urban area has reached 42.49%, the entire region can effectively cope with a once-in-20-year heavy rainfall, the centralized collection rate of domestic sewage in the urban area has increased from 39.5% to 75%, and the water quality of the Shaxi River has been stably maintained at Class II standard.
Sanming City is located in the central part of Fujian Province, in the upper reaches of the Minjiang River. It is a typical southern mountain-valley city, facing a geographical pattern of "mountains flanking on both sides, a river flowing through the middle." As an old industrial base, it has a historical backlog of infrastructure deficiencies, prominent shortcomings in rainwater and sewage management, and overlapping risks of mountain and flood disasters. After being selected as a national sponge city construction demonstration city, the local government established a full-chain promotion model of "normalized promotion, precise implementation, and standardized management," clarifying the "1334" work approach. This involves focusing on one overall goal, addressing three shortcomings (drainage and flood prevention, sewage treatment efficiency improvement, and municipal infrastructure), constructing three sponge regulation belts (mountain-water retention belt at the city edge, urban rainwater storage and drainage belt, and riverside flood interception belt), and prioritizing the development of four demonstration areas: Liedong Guixiyang, Chengguan Fuxingbao, Ecological New City, and Dongmen Ancient Street.
To date, a cumulative investment of 1.46 billion yuan has been made in the four demonstration areas, covering an area of 43.26 square kilometers, with a total of 121 sponge city construction projects implemented. In terms of flood control and drainage, Sanming has systematically promoted the construction of 12 mountain-water retention belts at the city edge, with a storage capacity of 91,000 cubic meters; newly built and renovated 6 drainage pumping stations, increasing the pumping capacity to 72.6 cubic meters per second; and renovated 14.47 kilometers of urban flood control embankments. In terms of sewage treatment, the centralized collection rate of domestic sewage in the urban area has reached 75%, and the average influent biochemical oxygen demand concentration of the sewage treatment plant has reached 135.3 mg/L. Sponge transformation has added 245,000 square meters of sponge pocket parks, benefiting over 100,000 residents, with a public satisfaction rate of 97.6%.
In terms of institutional innovation, Sanming has issued the "Sanming City Sponge City Planning, Construction, and Management Regulations" along with over 20 supporting policies and 9 technical standards, filling the institutional gaps in mountain sponge construction. The practice of mountain-valley sponge construction has been selected for the national typical case collection of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. In the next step, Sanming will continue to optimize the "mountain-water-city" ecological spatial pattern and improve the water safety guarantee system and the public service system.
This article is compiled by Wedoany. All AI citations must indicate the source as "Wedoany". If there is any infringement or other issues, please notify us promptly, and we will modify or delete it accordingly. Email: news@wedoany.com
