China's railways open up to private investment, even from overseas
Beijing needs two trillion yuan to realise its projects. The current network is dated by some 20 years and insufficient to cover demand.
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) China needs two trillion yuan (around 247.2 billion US dollars) within the coming 15 years to implement a more efficient railway network. But the government cannot fork out such huge allotments of money so the only hope lies in private investors, both national and international. This was declared by Lu Dongfu, vice minister of China's Ministry of Railways at a forum on the country's railway investment reform on 20 September. The long-term development plan for the railway services foresees a total mileage of railways in China of 100,000 kilometres (there are 73,000km now) by 2020. There is also a plan to divide passenger and freight transport. The construction of 12,000km of new passenger lines is projected together with 16,000km of other new lines and 13,000km of secondary lines, as well as the electrification of 16,000km of existing lines.
Ma Hu Jinglin, director general of the Economic Construction Development of the Ministry of Finance, said "we can never do it if we rely on the traditional financing system." So far, railway operations have always been financed by the central government, which according to all analysts cannot pump such large sums of money into the sector.
Wang Qingyun, director general of the Transport Department of the State Development and Reform Commission, said the development of railways "has lagged behind national economy for the last 20 years". About 280,000 cars are needed everyday to ferry goods but only half of the requests can be met. Wang attributed railways' slow development to lack of funds, a problem which could be overcome only by private investment, including from overseas. First, however, the government would need to introduce reforms in the sector, to distinguish between private and public investment and to clearly define ownership of the railway services. The price fixing system in the sector should also be reformed, and the procedure of government monitoring of private interventions would need to be simplified.
Huang Min, chief economist of the Ministry of Railways, said "talks" are under way between "foreign enterprises and domestic railway companies". Last July, the Railways Minister had already spoken in favour of collaboration with the private sector in the "construction and management" of the railways.
China has the highest number of urban railway commuters. According to a research report of the Urban Rail Transport Committee of the China Transport Association, more than 30 out of the 40 main cities with a population of over one million are already constructing, or preparing for the construction of, urban express rail transport systems. There are plans for the construction of 55 lines in larger cities, with a total length of 1,500km and an investment of 500 billion yuan ($US61.7 billion). These projects involve cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Guagzhou, Dalian, Nanjing, Shenzen, Changchun in Jilin and Wuhan in Hebei. These nine cities already have an overall urban railway system of more than 400km, including 293km underground. For 2010 another 1000km of urban tracks are planned to the tune of more than 200 billion yuan within the next five years.
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24/10/2017 10:51
