On August 21, Yang Yang, full-time Deputy Director of the Office of the Beijing Municipal Commission for City Planning, led a delegation to the Beijing Institute of Geological & Prospecting Engineering to review applications related to changes in groundwater levels in the Capital Functional Core Area and discuss ways to strengthen support for the secure operation of central government functions. Yan Xincheng, Party Secretary of the Institute, chaired the meeting. Institute leaders Liu Shaomin, Huang Xueqin and Li Fangzhen, as well as Chief Engineers Li Haijun and Liu Qingxiao, attended.
The delegation held a thematic meeting on security support for central government functions and heard a briefing on the Institute’s underground-space work, the impact of rising groundwater levels on planning and development in key areas, and related response measures.
Yang Yang stressed the need to implement the important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping, strengthen Party leadership, approach the work from the perspective of safeguarding the capital, ensure effective implementation of planning, and enhance coordination. First, in key areas serving central government functions, the Institute should leverage its well-established survey, monitoring, assessment and early-warning systems and strong technical team to advance in-depth research and implementation related to underground space, thereby supporting both the secure operation of central government functions and the capital’s long-term strategic security. Second, geological surveys, monitoring and assessments should be integrated throughout the preparation, implementation, approval and evaluation of the city master plan, district plans and neighborhood regulatory plans. Supporting monitoring facilities should be advanced through underground-space legislation, policy research and formulation, and major municipal projects, establishing a long-term mechanism of “planning guidance, project implementation and routine operation and maintenance” and further strengthening the capital’s security network. Third, municipal-district coordination mechanisms should be systematically improved. Focusing on groundwater and underground-space governance in key areas such as Haidian District, the parties should deepen cooperation through the municipal-district collaborative planning platform, develop replicable experience and scale up proven practices.
Yan Xincheng said the Beijing Institute is advancing its transformation with a focus on geological safety in the capital. It has built deep expertise in underground-space safety, participated extensively in planning and legislative studies, conducted geological surveys at multiple scales, and developed standards for underground-space resource surveys and assessments. It also carries out geological suitability assessments for key development areas and major projects to support refined megacity governance and planning safety, strengthens smart monitoring and risk prevention capabilities, builds a 3D geological data foundation, and explores differentiated geological-safety zoning and the deployment of geological-safety monitoring facilities. These efforts support a range of major initiatives in the capital. As a next step, the Institute will use Haidian District as a pilot area to conduct dedicated groundwater studies and address geological hazard risks in key central government areas, while further strengthening coordination with the Office of the Beijing Municipal Commission for City Planning.
Officials from the Government Functions Planning Division of the Office of the Beijing Municipal Commission for City Planning and members of the Institute’s underground-space task force also attended.
