Since the construction of Baotou's underground pipe tunnel – which integrates various engineering pipelines for electricity, communication, gas, heating, water supply and drainage – started in 2013, 42 kilometers of integrated main pipe tunnels and four pipe tunnel control centers have been built in four parts of the city, all of which have been put into operation, with a total investment of about 3.1 billion yuan ($444.58 million).

In April 2015, Baotou was named one of the first 10 "Pilot Cities for the Construction of Underground Pipe Tunnel" in the country. In September of the same year, it was officially included in the second batch of government and social capital cooperation PPP demonstration projects of the Ministry of Finance, becoming a national dual demonstration project, and received 900 million yuan in national financial awards and subsidies.

To this end, the city will put maximum effort into top-level design of the construction of the underground pipe tunnel. The "Special Plan for Urban Underground Pipe Tunnels in Baotou" has been compiled and completed, and 197.78 kilometers of pipe tunnels are planned to be constructed.

It has been reported that through the construction of pipe tunnels, the direct and indirect investment in the Baotou center has exceeded 2 billion yuan, which has a significant driving effect on digesting excess capacity of cement and steel and stimulating domestic demand in the economy.

Next, the construction of underground pipe tunnels in Baotou will continue to rely on the advantages of the country's first batch of pilot cities for pipe tunnels to build high-quality projects.