At the meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held in April this year, a major arrangement was made to strengthen the planning and development of the water network, new power grid, computing power network, next-generation communications network, urban underground utility network and logistics network. At the end of July, clear requirements were reiterated to steadily advance the planning and construction of the “Six Networks” in the second half of the year. The Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government have also rolled out intensive arrangements, urging all regions to conduct thorough and solid planning for this work. The frequent mention of the “Six Networks” at important meetings speaks volumes about its great significance. Yancheng moved swiftly as special research on project reserves was carried out in May. In June, leading municipal officials conducted an inspection and stressed the need to align with national needs, leverage Yancheng’s strengths, respond to public expectations and embrace future trends. The same month, the city’s major project analysis meeting once again focused on this theme.

At present, Yancheng is giving full play to its resource advantages, and progress on the “Six Networks” construction keeps accelerating. Breakthroughs have been achieved first in the computing power network. The Yancheng Supercomputing Center has been approved as a National Open Innovation Platform for Public Computing Power of the New Generation of Artificial Intelligence, with a 100% server rack occupancy rate. The new power grid is being restructured at a faster pace. Unit 5 of the 2×1,000 MW expansion project of SPIC Binhai Power Plant has been put into operation in Binhai. It has recently successfully passed full-load trial operation and officially entered commercial operation. Construction of the next-generation communications network is advancing in parallel. The city is comprehensively carrying out minimalist upgrading of C-RAN networking and empowering photovoltaic grid connection and smart manufacturing with 5G technology. Work on the Phase II Huaihe River Sea Outlet Channel includes excavation of a 67.9-kilometer main channel; five pumping stations will be newly built or renovated, and 27.4 kilometers of underground drainage pipelines will be laid to effectively address urban water-logging. A municipal-level 2-billion-yuan logistics industry fund has been launched to improve the urban-rural distribution hub system.

Up to now, Yancheng has reserved 192 key projects under the “Six Networks” Initiative, involving a total investment of 163.3 billion yuan, featuring sufficient scale and huge potential. The computing power network shall proactively cater to industrial demand in the Yangtze River Delta and make full use of computing resources to avoid prioritizing construction over operation. The new power grid shall be deeply integrated with coastal wind power and photovoltaic projects to explore a joint operation model of “green power + computing power”. The development of urban underground utility networks shall be coordinated with urban renewal, turning these unseen “underlying infrastructure projects” into livelihood initiatives recognized by the public. The logistics network shall accelerate the interconnection and formation of a closed loop of urban and rural nodes to effectively reduce operating costs for the real economy. More importantly, closer coordination among the “Six Networks” should be strengthened to optimize the layout and structure of the modern infrastructure system, promote integrated development, and generate the synergy of “1+1>2”.