China speeds up infrastructure spending to revive economy

China has accelerated approvals for infrastructure spending on 20 more road, port and channel projects, as it moves to revive its economy.

September 6, 2012

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The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country’s economic planner, announced on Thursday September 6 that approval has been given for the development and feasibility studies of 13 road projects across China, with a total length of over 2,000km.

The projects include highway expansions in Jilin, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang provinces, as well as feasibility studies for roads in Hebei, Xinjiang, Liaoning, Gansu, and Yunnan.

The NDRC approved 25 rail projects on Wednesday, which are worth over 700 billion yuan ($110 billion).

“In the short term, the new projects could be a boost for the steel industry, but they are not good news in the long run,” a trader in Shanghai said.

“The industry needs restructuring and it could well make full use of the downbeat market to push forward with its transformation, as the slackened market will eliminate non-efficient capacities.

“But any stimulus plan could end up spoiling that,” a steel mill source in Jiangsu told Steel First.