On May 20, the Information Office of the Municipal Government held a press conference to brief on the renovation of old residential elevators in Qingdao. Wang Botong, Member of the Party Leadership Group, Deputy Director and Press Spokesperson of the Municipal Urban Management Bureau; Liu Yi, Head of the Property Management Division of the Municipal Urban Management Bureau and Director of the Property Service Support Center; and Wang Yulai, Head of the Special Equipment Safety Supervision Division of the Municipal Market Supervision Bureau, attended the conference and answered questions from reporters.

 

The renovation of old residential elevators is not only a "key small matter" close to the people, but also a "major livelihood undertaking" in urban governance. In recent years, Qingdao has thoroughly implemented the spirit of the Central Urban Work Conference. Centering on the "Four Good" development goals of "good housing, good communities, good neighborhoods, and good urban areas," the city has firmly seized the policy window of ultra-long-term special government bonds. Treating the renovation of old residential elevators as an important lever for benefiting the people, shoring up weak links, improving quality, and promoting development, the city has adhered to systematic planning, closed-loop advancement, full-chain services, and whole-process supervision, striving to continuously upgrade residents' living quality from "difficulty going up and down stairs" to safe elevator rides, convenient travel, and happy living.

 

83 Old Elevators Expected to Be Fully Completed by the End of July

 

Old residential elevators bear directly on the safety of people's lives and property and are a livelihood project strongly supported by the state. One point needs special emphasis: "The principal and interest of ultra-long-term special government bonds are borne by the central government, without adding to local fiscal repayment burdens." Since 2025, the Municipal Urban Management Bureau, together with the development and reform, market supervision, and other departments, has proactively aligned with national and provincial policy directions, applying precisely and striving with full effort, achieving major breakthroughs for two consecutive years.

 

In 2025, Qingdao secured quotas for the renovation of 892 old residential elevators across two batches, with a flat-rate subsidy of 150,000 yuan per elevator and approved ultra-long-term special government bond subsidy funds of 130 million yuan. The first batch of 625 renovated elevators has been fully completed, covering 51 residential communities and benefiting 16,000 households, with total project investment of 107 million yuan, an average investment of 171,300 yuan per elevator, and average self-raised funds of only 609 yuan per household. The second batch of 267 elevators has been allocated to 8 districts (cities), 14 subdistricts, and 26 residential communities, covering 6,000 households. At present, 184 elevators have unified owners' willingness to renovate, and 83 elevators have formally signed renovation contracts, with all expected to be completed by the end of July.

 

Judging from completed projects, public satisfaction has reached over 99 percent, and elevator fault complaints have dropped by more than 26 percent, genuinely improving residents' travel experience and sense of safety.

 

610 Million Yuan This Year to Renovate 3,944 Old Elevators

 

Through active efforts, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development approved Qingdao's 2026 quota for the renovation of 3,944 old residential elevators, involving ultra-long-term special government bond subsidy funds of 610 million yuan, covering 9 districts (cities), 47 subdistricts, and 256 residential communities, benefiting about 131,400 households, with the scale continuing to rank first in the province and among the top in the country.

 

Among these, the first batch of 2,333 elevator renovation quotas was issued recently, involving subsidy funds of 369 million yuan, which can drive social investment of about 80 million yuan from community public income and residents' self-raised funds, forming a sound development pattern of "government guidance, market operation, public participation, and governance enhancement."

 

Three-Tier Subsidy Standards, Up to 200,000 Yuan

 

To use government bond funds well and deliver livelihood projects solidly, since last year the Municipal Urban Management Bureau, together with the Municipal Market Supervision Bureau and other departments, has formulated a series of policies including elevator renovation work guidelines, implementation plans, and fund allocation measures. It innovatively proposed the "five steps and twelve links" working method, regulating the entire process of application, project initiation, voting, construction, acceptance, inspection, and registration, forming replicable, promotable, and supervizable operating standards.

 

This year, the state optimized and adjusted the elevator renovation subsidy standards, changing from the original flat-rate subsidy of 150,000 yuan per elevator to tiered subsidies based on the actual number of stops served by the elevator, specifically divided into three tiers, with subsidy amounts ranging from 100,000 yuan to 200,000 yuan. In accordance with the national policy adjustment, the Municipal Urban Management Bureau, together with the Municipal Development and Reform Commission, the Municipal Market Supervision Bureau, and the Municipal Administrative Approval Bureau, formulated and issued the 2026 elevator renovation policy, further clarifying subsidy standards and investment amounts, straightening out the working mechanism, and ensuring that policy implementation is not distorted, fund use does not deviate, and project advancement is not obstructed.

 

Promoting Electronic Voting to Solve the "Difficulty of Unifying Opinions"

 

The renovation of old residential elevators faces problems such as difficulty in unifying owners' opinions, heavy pressure on residents' self-raised funds, the impact of construction in existing residential buildings on residents' daily lives, and weak linkage with long-term maintenance. Centering on the four key links of voting, fundraising, construction, and maintenance, the Municipal Urban Management Bureau has innovated mechanisms, optimized services, and improved efficiency.

 

Building on Qingdao's already mature electronic voting system for owners' joint decision matters, the Municipal Urban Management Bureau developed and built a dedicated module for owners' voting on elevator renovation on the smart property platform. By connecting with the real estate registration system, it has achieved online verification of owners' identities, standardized and unified voting topic content, and automatic statistics and immediate disclosure of voting results, greatly improving the efficiency of deliberation and voting on elevator renovation. In particular, it provides great convenience for owners who are traveling on business or whose homes are rented out to participate in voting.

 

76 Elevators Achieve Zero Self-Payment Renovation for Residents

 

An important change in the state's adjustment of the elevator renovation subsidy policy in 2026 is that for each renovated elevator, owners' self-raised funds cannot be less than 30,000 yuan. To effectively solve the difficulty of residents' self-raised funds, the Municipal Urban Management Bureau explored and established a diversified fundraising mechanism of "government bond subsidy + owners' self-raised funds + public income + maintenance funds." Among the first batch of renovated elevators in 2025, 103 elevators used public income to supplement residents' self-raised funds, reducing residents' contribution burden by about 3.5 million yuan; 76 elevators achieved full coverage through "government bond subsidy + public income," enabling residents to renovate elevators with zero self-payment, truly delivering the benefits of the policy. This work mainly benefits from the reform of the owners' common funds system advanced in recent years. Since 2023, the Municipal Urban Management Bureau, together with the People's Bank of China Qingdao Branch and the Municipal Public Security Bureau, has made innovative breakthroughs and established an owners' common funds account management system.

 

Up to now, 2,696 residential communities have opened owners' common funds accounts, managing over 80 million yuan in owners' public income. It is believed that this year more owners in communities renovating elevators will enjoy the benefits of "zero self-payment" or "less self-payment" through public income subsidies.

 

Opening Green Channels to Ensure Early Inspection and Early Operation

 

Elevator renovation differs from the installation of elevators in newly built residential buildings. It requires old elevator demolition, new elevator installation, commissioning, and testing within the limited space inside existing residential buildings, which will have a certain impact on residents' daily lives and safety guarantees.

 

In terms of work procedures, cross-operation construction is required: where the same unit has a backup elevator or different units are interconnected, replacement should be staggered; where there is no backup elevator, work procedures should be effectively connected to shorten the renovation period. At the same time, property service enterprises are coordinated to provide voluntary services such as door-to-door garbage removal and shopping errands for special groups such as the elderly, disabled, and sick during elevator renovation, minimizing the impact on residents' lives.

 

In terms of safety guarantees, the main responsibility for production safety of elevator manufacturing and installation enterprises is firmly shouldered, requiring them to adopt physical protection measures such as work barriers, equipment fences, and safety signs, and to purchase public liability insurance for elevator renovation, fully safeguarding the personal and property safety of community residents.

 

In terms of inspection and testing, elevator manufacturing and installation enterprises are coordinated to reasonably arrange work schedules, ensuring early material preparation and early inspection applications, and the Municipal Market Supervision Bureau and the Municipal Special Equipment Inspection Institute are coordinated to open green channels for inspection and testing, ensuring early inspection and early operation of elevator renovation projects.

 

More Than 1,600 Elevator Renovation Packages for Owners to Choose From

 

Through "opening up data for analysis," it was found that complaints about "elevators" received by the city's 12345 government service hotline each year rank fifth in the property management field, reaching 16,000 cases in 2025, mainly concentrated in untimely elevator fault repairs, inadequate elevator safety management, and difficulty in raising repair funds. In this renovation, the Municipal Urban Management Bureau adhered to "emphasizing both construction and management," promoting the upgrade of elevator renovation from "replacing equipment" to "optimizing services and long-term management."

 

In terms of safety management, the Municipal Urban Management Bureau promoted that among elevators renovated in 2025, 70 percent were newly equipped with electric bicycle blocking systems, and 80 percent were newly installed with IoT trapped-person rescue systems, with barrier-free facilities simultaneously provided, enhancing the intelligent level of safety facilities.

 

In terms of long-term operation and maintenance, this year through more than 40 rounds of negotiations with 22 elevator suppliers, more than 1,600 elevator renovation packages were launched for owners' reference and selection. The relevant enterprises all promised that renovated elevators would come with a whole-machine warranty of 10 years or more or a 10-year comprehensive elevator insurance policy, ensuring timely fault repairs and guaranteed funds for elevators within 10 years.

 

Innovating the Closed-Loop Fund Allocation Process

 

Adhering to using the "small切口" of old residential elevator renovation to leverage the "big article" of urban governance development, through measures such as mechanism innovation, system improvement, and financial empowerment, the city strives to transform livelihood projects into development projects and national benefit policies into long-term governance effectiveness.

 

An innovative mechanism for direct allocation of government bond funds to enterprises for old residential elevator renovation has been established. Forming a closed-loop fund allocation process of "application elevator by elevator, district/city review, municipal verification, and direct allocation after verification," for elevator renovation projects meeting fund application conditions, after the city uniformly organizes elevator verification and acceptance, the Municipal Urban Management Bureau allocates government bond funds directly to the construction unit's account, strictly preventing risks of fund misappropriation and fraudulent claims, ensuring the safe and efficient use of government bond subsidy funds, and achieving precise direct delivery of funds to benefit the people and enterprises.

 

Innovating the Elevator Maintenance Guarantee System

 

Taking elevator renovation as an opportunity, a spare parts price database for 625 renovated elevators has been established, covering mainstream brands such as Mitsubishi, Hitachi, KONE, Otis, and Nidec, and covering major components and safety components of elevators such as traction machines, control cabinets, door operators, speed limiters, and safety gears. This price database will serve as an important reference for subsequent applications to use maintenance funds to replace parts of existing elevators, providing real-time warnings for abnormal quotations when applying for maintenance funds, and preventing behaviors such as inflated prices and fund siphoning. As elevator renovation work continues to advance, the price database will be dynamically updated and made open and transparent, relying on big data to further regulate the elevator maintenance market and the use of maintenance funds.

 

Innovating Financial Products for Livelihood Services

 

In terms of alleviating the funding pressure on elevator enterprises, the Municipal Urban Management Bureau took the lead in building an elevator renovation financing matchmaking platform, proactively promoting elevator renovation policies to financial institutions, pushing enterprises to give back to residents, and guiding banks and other financial institutions to develop financial products such as "low-interest elevator renovation loans," encouraging elevator manufacturing and installation enterprises to pay manufacturers in full, improving manufacturers' production scheduling efficiency, and ensuring the supply of Qingdao's elevator renovation products.

 

In terms of full-cycle elevator protection, by connecting with financial regulatory authorities, innovative insurance products such as "elevator + insurance + service" have been launched, guiding insurance institutions to provide comprehensive protection for renovated and existing elevators, including elevator repairs, trapped-person incidents, and casualty compensation, effectively resolving long-term risks such as subsequent elevator maintenance and emergency response, promoting deep integration of ultra-long-term special government bond livelihood projects with local financial innovation, and exploring a sustainable urban renewal model.

 

Next, the Municipal Urban Management Bureau will, in accordance with the work arrangements of the Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government, continue to make good use of the ultra-long-term special government bond policy, strictly implement the 2026 tiered subsidy standards, regulate project management, fund use, quality supervision, and long-term operation and maintenance throughout the entire process, continuously expand the coverage of old residential elevator renovation, and strive to make everyone live more securely and comfortably.

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