BEIJING, Jan. 17 -- China will start the renovation of over 53,000 old urban residential communities this year in an effort to make cities more livable, a senior official said Tuesday.

Ni Hong, minister of housing and urban-rural development, unveiled the figure at a work conference, saying the figure is higher than last year's target of 51,000 residential communities renovated, which was successfully accomplished.

The infrastructure upgrades will also be accelerated, with more than 100,000 km of gas pipelines expected to be renovated, and 15,000 km of rainwater pipes to be built or improved. The construction of underground tunnels will be promoted according to local conditions.

The goal is to make people's lives more convenient, comfortable and better, Ni said.