China stresses private, quality investment in northeast revival plan

BEIJING - A multibillion-dollar plan to boost Northeast China's flagging economy will not just use state funds, but also use private capital to invest, an official said Thursday.

The three-year revival plan is not wholly funded by the state and is not a government "blood transfusion," an official with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said, implying that the investment is not a short-term aid, but aimed at improving the region's economic health in the long term.

The plan was announced by the NDRC on Monday and involves launching 127 major projects in the northeast region from 2016 to 2018.

The wide-ranging plan will cover sectors including transport, energy, water conservation, agriculture, as well as urban and rural development.

More than 1 trillion yuan ($150.2 billion) will be invested in the projects, financed by private companies as well as central and local governments, said the official.

The money will not be spent on industries suffering from overcapacity, but go to key areas creating new growth, such as infrastructure and emerging industries, he said.

Efforts will be made to improve local government management, deepen state-owned enterprise reform and promote development of the private sector, according to the plan.

Amid economic slowdown in the last two years, the northeast, an old industrial base, has experienced more difficulties than the rest of the country. The region relies largely on heavy and chemical industries, energy resources, raw materials and a large number of state-owned enterprises.

According to NDRC data, the region's economy grew 2.2 percent in the first half of 2016, much lower than the 7.6 percent, 7.8 percent and 8 percent for the east, central and western regions of the country, respectively.