China expedites PPP projects to drive investment

BEIJING -- Public-private partnership (PPP) projects are being launched in China at a quicker pace as the country ramps up efforts to drive investment and consolidate economic recovery, the China Securities Journal reported.

From Southwest China's Yunnan province to Shanghai municipality on the eastern coast, a number of PPP projects covering afforestation, rural infrastructure and water purification broke ground last month in various parts of the country, according to the China Public Private Partnerships Center under the Ministry of Finance.

In July, a total of 251 such projects with a combined investment of 300 billion yuan (about $44 billion) were inked.

PPPs act as a collaborative investment model between the government and private companies.

In recent years, China has promoted the funding for infrastructure and public works through this model, aiming to reduce local government debts and create new opportunities for private capital.

As China's economy is currently in a critical stage of stabilization, analysts believe PPP projects will play a more significant role.

China has maintained its economic recovery trend so far this year, with fixed-asset investment up 5.7 percent year on year in the first seven months. Specifically, investments in infrastructure and manufacturing rose by 7.4 percent and 9.9 percent, respectively.

With infrastructure projects gaining traction, PPPs will be crucial to increasing effective investment in the second half of the year, said Zheng Dawei with the investment banking department of the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank.

Zhang Liao, chairman of Shanghai Jumbo Consulting Co, Ltd, noted that PPPs have enormous untapped potential and urged targeted measures to accelerate the building of existing projects.

Policy support has strengthened this year as the government has rolled out a series of favorable measures to encourage PPP projects in areas including water conservancy, environmental protection, logistics and technological innovation.

By the end of June, the number of PPP projects inked in the country had increased to 7,934 since 2014, driving 13.1 trillion yuan of investment.