Private Capital May Enter the Industry in 2014; Total Annual Railway Investment to Exceed 650 Billion Yuan

　　In 2013, national railway investment totaled 650 billion yuan, including 520 billion yuan in infrastructure investment and more than 5,200 kilometers of new lines put into operation. To achieve the medium- and long-term planning goal of a 16,000-kilometer four-vertical, four-horizontal passenger dedicated line network by 2020, China will continue to increase railway infrastructure investment this year. Recently, Wang Derong, executive vice president of the China Communications and Transportation Association, also said that in 2014 China will increase its railway investment and will also tilt somewhat in policy, with total railway investment certain to exceed 650 billion yuan.

　　As the Year of the Horse arrives, the annual railway work conference will be held in January, and the meeting will cover fare reform, railway investment and financing, and the overall scale of railway investment in 2014.

　　In 2013, the national railway work conference proposed further broadening the financing channels for railway construction. It called for accelerating the implementation of a diversified investment and railway-building mechanism featuring categorized advancement, categorized investment, and categorized cooperation, and for encouraging and supporting local governments, enterprises, and private capital to invest in railway construction. It also called for fully implementing the Implementation Opinions on Encouraging and Guiding Private Capital to Invest in Railways, striving to establish a national railway development fund as soon as possible, actively building a platform to attract social and private capital to invest in railways, and promoting the diversification of railway investment entities.

　　At the end of 2013, the Xiamen-Shenzhen Railway, Xi'an-Baoji High-Speed Railway, Liuzhou-Nanning Passenger Dedicated Line, Hengyang-Liuzhou Railway, Chongqing-Lichuan Railway, Guangxi Coastal Railway, and other railways opened for operation at the same time; construction began on the Beijing-Shenyang Passenger Dedicated Line with a total investment of 124.5 billion yuan; and China's railway operating mileage increased by about 2,000 kilometers in a single day, breaking through the 100,000-kilometer mark. Among this, high-speed railway operating mileage exceeded 10,000 kilometers.

　　According to the adjusted Medium- and Long-Term Railway Network Plan, by 2015 China's high-speed railway operating mileage will reach 19,000 kilometers; by 2020, China's railway operating mileage will reach more than 120,000 kilometers, and the rapid passenger transport network will basically cover all provincial capitals and cities with populations above 500,000. In the practice of building and operating 100,000 kilometers of railway, China Railway has fully mastered automatic train control technology, achieved mixed operation of trains of different classes, and realized interconnection between high-speed and conventional railways; it has built a railway safety risk prevention and control system and achieved comprehensive inspection and maintenance of trains, lines, bridges, and catenary equipment.

　　Analysts pointed out that after two rounds of railway bidding in 2013, the railway equipment market will usher in more than 120 billion yuan in bidding orders in 2014, and railway infrastructure investment is expected to exceed expectations.

　　Major Water Conservancy Projects to Launch in 2014; Water Conservancy Dividends Arrive

　　News from the recently held National Water Conservancy Directors Conference indicates that, in order to safeguard national water security and strengthen the foundational and strategic supporting role of water conservancy in economic and social development, China will accelerate the construction of a batch of major backbone water conservancy projects with radiating and driving effects in 2014, and actively deepen reform to remove institutional and mechanism obstacles constraining water conservancy development.

　　Minister of Water Resources Chen Lei said that in 2013 water conservancy provided strong support for achieving a “tenth consecutive increase” in grain output and for promoting sustained and healthy economic development and social harmony and stability. At present, China's flood control, drought relief, and disaster reduction and water resource allocation systems are still not perfect, and economic transformation and upgrading and new urbanization construction have placed new demands on water conservancy. This year, while accelerating the progress of projects under construction, we must launch and implement a batch of major water conservancy projects and build the “main arteries” well. We must vigorously advance preliminary work on major water diversion and river-lake system interconnection projects such as the Han-to-Wei Water Diversion, the Yangtze-to-Huai Water Diversion, and the Central Yunnan Water Diversion, promote early commencement of projects, and carry out demonstration for follow-up projects of the eastern and middle routes of the South-to-North Water Diversion and preliminary work for the western route. We will accelerate the construction of large and medium-sized reservoirs with the southwest region as the focus. We will continue to strengthen the governance of major rivers and large lakes, accelerate preliminary work on controlling hub projects such as Datengxia on the Xijiang River, Chushandian on the Huaihe River, and Guxian on the Yellow River, launch implementation of flood control projects on the main streams of the Heilongjiang, Songhua, and Nenjiang Rivers, and strengthen the construction of important flood storage and detention areas and important seawalls.

　　On how to ensure funding for the construction of these major water conservancy projects, Chen Lei said that this year the central government's budgetary funds allocated for water conservancy construction will increase compared with previous years and will certainly maintain this momentum.

　　In 2013, a total of 439.7 billion yuan was secured for water conservancy construction investment, including 140.8 billion yuan of central investment and 298.9 billion yuan of local investment, maintaining a relatively high investment scale. An official from the Planning and Programs Department of the Ministry of Water Resources said that water conservancy construction investment this year will increase slightly compared with previous years, but the specific amount is still being calculated and will be finalized and announced to the public after the National Water Conservancy Planning and Programs Work Conference is held in late January.

　　At present, the Ministry of Water Resources is also accelerating reform of the water conservancy investment and financing system, striving to stabilize and increase public financial input while implementing relevant policies for financial support for water conservancy, encouraging and attracting social capital to invest in water conservancy construction, improving supervision and management of water conservancy investment, and safeguarding the funding needs and investment performance of large-scale water conservancy construction. “That is, we should try to let social capital participate in water conservancy construction and minimize the excessive burden on government fiscal funds in water conservancy investment,” the aforementioned official from the Planning and Programs Department of the Ministry of Water Resources said.

　　Although the 4-trillion-yuan stimulus for the construction machinery industry is no longer seen, a stable and slowly developing market trend will provide enterprises with a more benign environment for survival and development. During economic crises, some surviving enterprises shared the fruits during the economic recovery, but in this crisis in the construction machinery industry, most enterprises survived, and the stable and slow market recovery trend will not bring too many fruits; only enterprises that are better prepared can seize market opportunities. The more fully prepared they are, the greater the fruits they can harvest.