Beijing approves 5 more railway projects
The mainland has approved construction of five railway projects worth 152.7 billion yuan (HK$192.4 billion), the National Development and Reform Commission said, taking the number of railway projects approved since July to 21.
The mainland has approved construction of five railway projects worth 152.7 billion yuan (HK$192.4 billion), the National Development and Reform Commission said, taking the number of railway projects approved since July to 21.
The economic planning agency said in statements posted on its website that it had approved five more railway projects in August and September, including three new railways running in Guangdong and Guangxi in the south, and Gansu, Shaanxi and the Ningxia Hui autonomous region in the northwest.
Before the latest announcements, made at the weekend, the NDRC announced last month that it had approved 16 railway projects from July to September, after China Railway Corp, the national rail operator, raised its investment target for the year to 800 billion yuan.
Xinhua reported earlier that China Railway had obtained approval for 64 rail projects planned for this year.
The NDRC has speeded up project approvals as part of Beijing's effort to stabilise the slowing economy through infrastructure investments. The value of investment in the 21 railway projects approved since July exceeds 840 billion yuan.
Gary Wong, an analyst at Guotai Junan Securities, said some of the railway investments approved by the end of this year might be implemented next year and he expected the huge outlays to continue into next year.
"We expect China to announce a railway investment target of 700 billion to 750 billion yuan at the beginning of next year, and then raise it to about 800 billion yuan later during the year," Wong said.
He said it would be difficult for the mainland to maintain the huge railway investment for a very long time due to the huge debt that the national rail operator was bearing.
China Railway posted a 3.44 billion yuan loss after taxes for the first nine months of this year, compared with a 1.73 billion yuan loss for the same period last year. Its long-term debt rose 11 per cent to 2.9 trillion yuan from the end of last year.
Railway investment in the first eight months of the year rose 20 per cent from a year ago to 405 billion yuan, China Railway said in a statement in September.
