China to promote PPP in agricultural, tourism projects

BEIJING — China will promote public-private-partnerships (PPP) in developing agriculture and "happiness industries" like tourism, culture and healthcare.

The government will improve the PPP process and roll out a fourth round of demonstration projects, according to a statement from the Ministry of Finance Wednesday.

The central government is looking to PPP, a collaborative investment model between government and private companies, as a way to fund infrastructure projects amid concerns over high local government debt.

Last year, the number of signed PPP projects and total investment more than quadrupled from 2015, with private enterprises participating in more regions and sectors than ever before.

The strong momentum continued into the first quarter of 2017, which saw 28 percent more PPP projects inked year on year.

Chinese economy is on a transition to one more driven by consumption and service sector as increasingly affluent Chinese are looking for quality of life. In a speech to the Summer Davos Forum last June in Tianjin, Premier Li Keqiang said the five "happiness industries" of tourism, culture, sports, health and old-age care are rapidly growing in China.