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Blueprint of railways development

By Xin Dingding (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-11-17 13:50

About the money

Looking back on the past years, it was not until 2005 that the annual railway investment exceeded 100 billion yuan. Between 1998 and 2004, the annual investment was only between 80 billion to 90 billion yuan, the ministry data showed.

As the mid- and long-term railway plan approved by the central government in 2004, the country's large-scale railway construction began. The ministry began to pour at least 100 billion yuan each year.

Supported by the annual 40-billion-yuan railway construction fund, which is raised from the rail cargo transport, central government allocation and bank loans, the ministry decided the financing mechanism should be reformed.

It introduced local governments and social funds as strategic investors. Media reports showed that in the past few years, the ministry has signed cooperation agreements with 31 provinces and municipalities, involving 158 railway construction projects.

It also began to promote railway projects to large State-owned enterprises, attracting them to invest in railways that concern their interests. In 2005, China Huaneng Group and Taiyuan Iron & Steel (Group) Company Ltd signed contracts to invest in Shijiazhuang-Taiyuan passenger railway. China National Coal Group Corp invested in the 47-km Jigang railway in Tianjin,

In 2006, the ministry also attracted China's national pension fund and Ping An Asset Management Co Ltd under the Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China Ltd, to invest in the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway. The two agreed to respectively inject 10 billion yuan and 16 billion yuan into the 220-billion-yuan project, Cai Qinghua, Chairman of the project company, said in April.

In total, the local government, enterprises and other social investors have injected nearly 400 billion yuan in railway projects from 2003 to 2007, Liu Zhijun, Minister of Railways, said in January.

The ministry also issued railway construction bonds. From 2003 to 2007, it raised 113 billion yuan with the bonds, Liu said.

Also that year, it put two profitable railway companies on the Shanghai stock market. The Daqin railway and the Guangzhou-Shenzhen railway have respectively raised 15 billion yuan and 10 billion yuan, he said.

A ministry document said that the ministry is now studying ways to set up a railway industry investment fund and to help solicit more social funds for the spending spree.

But despite all these financing ways, the most important one is the full support given by the central government.

The Economic Daily reported last year that the ministry and China Development Bank have signed an agreement, which said the latter has promised to provide an annual 250 billion yuan of policy loans during 2006 and 2010.

Chen Yuan, head of the bank, was also quoted saying that the bank, which is under the direct leadership of the State Council, would provide long-term, large numbers of loans to satisfy the demands of railway construction.

An anonymous ministry official said that the money would not be a problem.

Though in 2006 and 2007, the actual investments poured in by the ministry are both lower than planned, analysts did not think it is because of lack of money.

Official data showed that the ministry planned to invest 160 billion yuan in 2006 and 256 billion yuan in 2007, but the actual investment is 154.3 billion yuan and 177.2 billion yuan.

Jin Yiyan believes the major reason for it is that the procedure demanded before construction is too complicated and time-consuming, something that caused many railway projects to start behind schedule.

But many high-speed railways have begun construction in the latter half of 2007 and this year. He says the investment in 2008 could reach at least 244.5 billion yuan.

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