BEIJING: The Chinese transport sector is poised to attract 2.6 trillion yuan (US$419 billion) of investment this year as authorities strive to accelerate infrastructure construction.
“The transport sector showed signs of improvement in the first half. If there are no major changes, we are very confident of realizing 2.6 trillion yuan of investment this year,” Transport Minister Yang Chuantang said in a statement posted on the ministry’s website yesterday.
The investment would represent a slight increase from last year’s more than 2.5 trillion yuan of fixed-asset investment in railways, roads and waterways.
The ministry will stick to the central government’s general requirement on stabilizing economic growth by fully leveraging the transport sector’s potential in steadying the economic momentum, Yang said.
In the first five months of this year, investment in railways, roads and waterways hit 698.7 billion yuan, up 15 percent year on year. The growth rate was 10.3 percentage points higher than in the same period of last year.
The State Council, China’s Cabinet, said that the country is in good shape to realize its major economic and social development targets this year, citing increasing positive signs in the economy in the last two months.
