An aerial view of Nanning, capital city of Guangxi. [Photo by Dong Zhihua/chinanews.com]

Nanning, capital of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, has been recognized for the efforts it made in 2020 to build itself into an all-round livable city, officials from the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region announced on Feb 21.

Nanning was given the award for two consecutive years during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020).

Over the past five years, the city has been taking measures such as optimizing public facilities, improving rail transit facilities, strengthening environmental protections and pushing forward urban renovation.

As one of China's first batch of pilot cities for "sponge city" construction, Nanning has launched a total of 287 related projects at a cost of 10.75 billion yuan ($1.66 billion). The city passed its national acceptance, with the third best result countrywide, in 2019.

The last two years have seen the opening of the extended section of Nanning Metro Line 2 and the first phase of Nanning Metro Line 4, forming a convenient rail transport network together with the existing metro lines 1, 2 and 3. The city's traffic congestion index fell to 1.54 in 2019.

In addition, the city has cast its eyes on increasing its energy security and continuously promoting the revolution in energy production and consumption. It has sped up construction of energy infrastructure as well as the promotion and application of new energy vehicles (NEVs).

By the end of 2020, the number of NEVs in Nanning reached 24,191 and the city had built 8,485 special parking spaces for NEVs, with 7,302 charging piles and 5,276 electrical outlets. People in all five counties in Nanning now have access to natural gas.