To advance the deep integration of the construction industry with high-quality urban development and guide construction enterprises toward an "Urban Partner" organizational model, Sichuan's Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development has recently issued an action plan. This plan aims to build a new ecosystem for urban construction and operation that integrates strategy, planning, investment, construction, operation, and governance.
An "Urban Partner" refers to an independent enterprise or consortium with comprehensive capabilities in planning, strategy, and investment. It partners with local governments through equity cooperation or long-term agreements to establish a shared-risk, shared-benefit organizational model. The core focus is on prioritizing planning and operations, transforming leading construction firms from project contractors into co-creators of urban development.
The development targets include cultivating 5-8 leading construction enterprises with "Urban Partner" implementation capabilities by 2027, creating replicable demonstration projects focused on "value symbiosis." By 2030, the goal is to nurture 15-20 such enterprises, establish 5 regionally renowned benchmark projects, and build a nationally leading "Urban Partner" industrial ecosystem with a full-chain service system covering strategy, planning, investment, construction, operations, and governance. This will foster a collaborative and win-win development landscape between government and enterprises.
Key Tasks
Fostering Market Entities and Building Demonstration Platforms
Market Entity Cultivation. Implement a cultivation plan for key "Urban Partner" enterprises, targeting those skilled in area planning, reviving idle assets, and operating industrial parks. Competitive comprehensive firms will be included in a provincial-level "Urban Partner" list for focused support. Cities and prefectures are encouraged to attract and develop local "Urban Partner" enterprises. Private construction firms are supported in participating, while state-owned enterprises and central government firms are encouraged to form consortia with private companies, focusing on projects like smart municipal infrastructure, sponge cities, and urban lifeline systems.
Pilot Project Leadership. Establish a demonstration project database for "Urban Partners," focusing on areas like urban renewal, area development, transit-oriented development (TOD), park development, and revitalizing existing assets. Priority will be given to projects with strong full-chain coordination and significant social benefits, which will be dynamically tracked. "Urban Partner" enterprises are encouraged to participate in projects involving the revitalization of assets like old neighborhoods, factory sites, and vacant buildings, as well as people-centric projects like urban fine-tuning and greenway construction.
Focusing on the Full Industry Chain to Enhance Enterprise Capabilities
Optimizing Industry Chain Integration. Leverage the resource integration capabilities of leading enterprises to connect upstream and downstream resources across strategy, planning, investment, construction, operations, and governance. This aims to achieve coordination across all stages and build a full-chain, integrated service capability. Leveraging provincial pilot policies for smart and green construction, new technologies and products like Building Information Modeling (BIM), City Information Modeling (CIM), the Internet of Things, construction robots, and smart construction equipment will be deeply integrated across the project lifecycle to enhance digitalization in planning, design, construction, and operations.
Strengthening Planning and Design Capabilities. Support enterprises in strengthening their professional teams in urban planning, health assessments, industrial strategy, and project consulting through formation or acquisition. This allows them to collaborate with local governments in analyzing regional development needs, functional positioning, and industrial layout, co-developing integrated plans for industrial recruitment and city-industry integration. Scientifically compiled project plans and strategies will systematically analyze the current state of existing and incremental resources, assess regional development potential, clarify goals, and refine urban design. Explore an "industry introduction first" model, where financial self-balancing plans are embedded during the planning phase. Industrial recruitment and operational performance will be prerequisites for cooperation, fostering a virtuous cycle of "introducing industry before construction, and determining plans based on operations."
Bolstering Investment and Financing Capabilities. Coordinate with financial institutions to increase supporting financing for projects supported by central budgetary investments, ultra-long-term special government bonds, and local government special bonds. Actively establish "Urban Partner" investment and financing matchmaking mechanisms, regularly organizing bank-enterprise meetings to bridge information gaps between enterprises, projects, and financial institutions. Encourage financial institutions to innovate and offer tailored financial products like credit loans, project loans, and loan renewals without principal repayment, leveraging market mechanisms to reduce comprehensive financing costs for enterprises.
Forging Research and Innovation Capabilities. Support enterprises in increasing R&D investment. Collaborate with universities and research institutes to tackle core technologies in areas like smart construction, green low-carbon development, and urban renewal. Establish innovation platforms such as key laboratories and engineering technology research centers. Enterprises with notable technological innovation achievements will receive support in project selection and supporting policies. Accelerate the R&D and large-scale application of green construction technologies, encouraging pilot demonstrations of zero-carbon buildings and low-carbon communities in "Urban Partner" projects.
Enhancing Operational and Governance Capabilities. Support enterprises in building professional teams for industrial recruitment, commercial operations, urban services, and property management. These teams can undertake "urban housekeeper" services like municipal maintenance, park operations, smart parking, and public property management. Support enterprises in establishing specialized project governance platforms to offer services like resident complaint coordination, public space maintenance, and multi-stakeholder governance. Encourage the establishment of government-enterprise pairing mechanisms to provide guidance on governance services for projects like urban renewal and area development, enhancing enterprises' grassroots service and governance capabilities.
Focusing on Key Areas to Precisely Activate Industrial Elements
Renovation and Upgrading. Support enterprises in participating in the renovation of old neighborhoods, old districts, urban villages, and inefficient factories. Local governments are encouraged to provide support for upfront planning and long-term operations within existing urban renewal funding frameworks. Guide market entities to introduce new business formats to revitalize area-based assets. The coordinated inclusion of concession projects like sewage, waste, and utility tunnels in area-based financial balance plans is supported, in accordance with regulations.
Area Development. Within the framework of compliant land planning, achieve financial balance through market-based returns from the sale of operational land within the area and the revitalization of existing assets. Implement a coordinated development model where operational and non-operational projects within the area are "reasonably paired and jointly developed," in accordance with regulations. Government-enterprise profit distribution must strictly adhere to market-based contracts, and financial subsidies or similar measures should not be used to indirectly cover project losses.
Improving the Regulatory System and Optimizing Service Capabilities
Optimizing Approval Management. Explore the establishment of a provincial-level "Urban Partner" project approval green channel, implementing "submit-on-approval, expedited processing" for demonstration area projects. Encourage cities and prefectures to identify low-risk project scenarios based on local conditions and explore the creation of project approval exemption lists.
Strengthening Regulatory Mechanisms. Establish a "Urban Partner" cooperation regulatory mechanism, clearly defining the rights and responsibilities of both government and enterprises, standardizing cooperation behaviors, mitigating cooperation risks, and providing timely guidance and corrections. Strengthen supervision over project quality, safety, progress, and operations to ensure standardized implementation and long-term benefits, while complying with urban infrastructure lifeline regulatory requirements. Establish a risk warning and termination mechanism, dynamically monitoring key indicators like project fund accounts, enterprise asset-liability ratios, project cash flow, and construction progress. Initiate agreement adjustments or exit procedures when risk thresholds are triggered, ensuring risks remain controllable.
Enhancing Government-Enterprise Engagement. Establish a government-enterprise engagement service mechanism, regularly organizing exchange meetings and project matchmaking events. Collect enterprise transformation needs and difficulties, and coordinate the resolution of issues related to project advancement and resource allocation.
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