Flooding is just one of the major water management issues facing China’s urban areas.
They use nature-based solutions, such as rain gardens, green roofs, constructed wetlands, and permeable pavement, to naturally capture, slow down, and filter stormwater.
Moreover, the Ministry of Finance offers additional funding (up to 10 percent of the initial amount) for cities that develop public-private partnerships to finance or operate sponge city projects.
These cities have begun developing plans, securing financing, and implementing sponge city projects.
Wuhan, which has invested two billion RMB in 104 projects, efficiently managed heavy storms on June 11, 2016.
For example, in 2010, New York City released a city-wide green infrastructure plan that integrates new rain gardens and green roofs into existing stormwater systems to improve overall performance at a projected cost of $5.3 billion, $1.5 billion less than a comparable gray infrastructure approach.
China’s central government is providing a significant amount of funding for the pilot cities, but the subsidies are far from enough to fully fund sponge city construction.
Even though the central government is offering financial incentives to encourage the use of public-private partnerships, securing private investment could be difficult.
Nevertheless, leveraging private sector financing is crucial for the success of the sponge city program, so local governments will need to identify innovative financing tools to operationalize their sponge city plans.
There are four possible ways Chinese city governments could finance sponge cities: Levy a surcharge to supplement existing water resource fees.