Investment is one of the "three main drivers" fueling economic growth. The Central Economic Work Conference held at the end of 2023, when outlining this year's economic work, called for "expanding investment that generates returns."
　　During our research, we observed that since the start of the year, a batch of major engineering projects across the country have broken ground in a concentrated push, new and traditional infrastructure is "blossoming," and the vitality of private investment is being continuously unleashed, helping to sustain the economy's continued recovery and improvement.

　　Accelerating the construction of major projects
　　At the start of the new year, walking onto the construction site of the Hubei northern section reconstruction and expansion project of the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau Expressway, one sees intelligent machinery roaring, and light-duty tower-building machines continuously pouring concrete under the operation of workers—a scene of bustling activity.
　　"This is currently Hubei's single expressway reconstruction and expansion project with the largest scale and the highest investment, driving employment for 5,000 people in areas along the route and expected to boost local GDP by 120 billion yuan," said Shen Diandong, executive director of Hubei Jiaotou Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau Expressway Reconstruction and Expansion Project Management Co., Ltd.
　　A thousand miles away, the Yunnan Zhaotong section of the G7611 Duxiang Expressway opened to traffic in the first week of the new year, marking a breakthrough for yet another major expressway artery connecting the three provinces of Yunnan, Sichuan and Guizhou.
　　"During construction, the Yunnan Zhaotong section of the G7611 Duxiang Expressway drove the development of more than 10 industries including steel bar processing and concrete mixing, and spurred nearly 10 billion yuan in investment and consumption in Yunnan," said Li Wenlong, chairman of Zhaotong Expressway Investment and Development Co., Ltd.
　　Major projects are the "ballast stone" of economic development and an important lever for expanding effective investment.
　　Since January, good news has poured in from numerous major projects: China's first land-cable sea-crossing project was successfully laid in Zhoushan, Zhejiang; the Yinjiang-Buhan (Yangtze-to-Han River water diversion) project—the first major project of the follow-up phase of the South-to-North Water Diversion—entered the full construction stage; and the world's highest-altitude large pumped-storage hydropower station broke ground in Sichuan...
　　Recently, with the last blast, the ventilation and safety tunnel of the State Grid Xinyuan Heilongjiang Shangzhi Pumped-Storage Power Station was successfully holed through, marking the start of the project's main works.
　　"Once the station is completed and put into operation, it will significantly enhance the Northeast power grid's capacity for peak shaving and valley filling, frequency regulation, phase modulation, energy storage and emergency backup, and is expected to reduce raw coal consumption by more than 490,000 tons per year," said a relevant person in charge of PowerChina Beijing Engineering Corporation Limited, which is responsible for the project's survey and design.
　　Energy project construction is picking up speed. The Longyan Tangfeng 220 kV power transmission and transformation project and the Shaanxi Coal Miluo thermal power project are accelerating their start of construction, helping to safeguard national energy security.
　　The "excavator index" based on the Rootcloud industrial internet platform shows that since the start of the year, infrastructure construction has accelerated in many major provinces in the eastern and central regions; for example, from January 1 to 7, the comprehensive开工率 (equipment operating rate) of construction machinery in Fujian and Zhejiang exceeded 50% for seven consecutive days.
　　It has been observed that the major projects rolled out across various regions mostly involve infrastructure, livelihood improvements to shore up weak links and other fields, and are expected to better drive economic growth.
　　A relevant person in charge of the Investment Department of the National Development and Reform Commission said that efforts will focus on doing high-quality preliminary project work, strengthening guarantees for factors such as land use, environmental impact assessment and energy use, accelerating project construction, and pushing to form physical工作量 (tangible work volume) as soon as possible.

　　Stepping up layout of new infrastructure
　　In Gui'an New Area, Guizhou, tower cranes stand in clusters, the Civic Center and computing power center are laid out in orderly fashion, and data center projects are "growing tall" one after another.
　　"The first phase of the NetEase Gui'an Data Center project, with total investment exceeding 200 million yuan, has been put into operation, with more than 1,000 racks and over 6,000 servers already installed," said Huang Feng, government affairs head of the NetEase Gui'an Data Center. This year, the second phase will be advanced according to the project's implementation and operation.
　　As one of the important hub nodes of the "Eastern Data, Western Computing" initiative, Guizhou continues to advance storage, transport and computing capacity. Gui'an New Area has now landed 19 data centers, and surging computing power is being transformed into a driving force for high-quality development.
　　Investment manifests as demand in the short term and as supply in the medium and long term.
　　To advance high-quality development, optimizing the supply structure is an inevitable choice. In 2023, national investment in high-tech industries grew 10.3% year on year, strongly supporting the growth of new drivers.
　　New infrastructure is a strategic cornerstone supporting the development of new business forms, new industries and new services. The first phase of the "Southeast Zhejiang Intelligent Computing Center" passed completion acceptance; the first shared charging robot charging station in the southern region landed on Guangzhou Bio-Island; the world's largest wind farm in an ultra-high-altitude area was put into operation... A batch of new infrastructure projects has made new progress, and new quality productive forces are taking shape at a faster pace.
　　At present, China's economy is in a critical period of industrial transformation and upgrading, the consumption structure of residents is upgrading rapidly, and effective investment focused on cultivating new drivers and new advantages has broad prospects.
　　Right now, at the construction site of LONGi's project with an annual output of 100 GW of monocrystalline silicon wafers and 50 GW of monocrystalline cells, thousands of workers are working intensively to ensure that the production equipment for Cell Workshop No. 1 is moved in and commissioned this summer.
　　"As China's green and low-carbon energy transition deepens, the power system's demand for new-type energy storage is growing ever stronger, and a series of investment measures reflects our firm confidence in clean energy development," said Li Wenxue, Party secretary and vice president of LONGi Green Energy Technology Co., Ltd.
　　Focusing on strategic emerging industries and future industries, various regions are rolling out layouts one after another: among the major projects in Anhui's first batch of start-of-construction mobilizations, projects in the top ten emerging industries account for 55%; among the signed projects of Henan's 11th "Three Batches" (a batch of projects signed, a batch started, and a batch put into operation), the total investment in advanced manufacturing and strategic emerging industry projects exceeds 592 billion yuan; 25 industrial projects in Xiamen started construction in a concentrated push, involving new energy, new materials and other fields...
　　Boosting investment in advanced manufacturing and green, low-carbon investment, accelerating the construction of new-type infrastructure, and the continuously optimized investment structure will accumulate new drivers for high-quality development.

　　Stimulating the enthusiasm of private investment
　　Zhejiang Shaoxing Shengxin Printing and Dyeing Co., Ltd. recently planned to invest more than 60 million yuan to update production equipment, but large-scale renovation in the printing and dyeing industry must go through environmental impact assessment, energy assessment and other procedures, which take a long time, and the new equipment must be put into production before the peak season arrives in March and April—this left chairman Fu Jianlin worried.
　　After learning of the company's needs, the Keqiao District Enterprise Comprehensive Service Center in Shaoxing coordinated with environmental assessment agencies and relevant functional departments, changing the original approval process to a filing system and guiding the enterprise to quickly renovate and start production. "The government's support makes me feel very reassured, and I am more confident about investing in the new year," Fu Jianlin said.
　　Private investment is the main force of fixed asset investment across society and a key force for improving investment quality and enhancing investment vitality.
　　Since the start of the year, all parties have adhered to a problem-oriented approach, innovated investment and financing systems and mechanisms, stimulated the enthusiasm of private investment, and encouraged private enterprises to invest boldly and operate with confidence.

　　— Relaxing market access and expanding investment space.
　　A few days ago, Jiangsu Province released its 2024 list of major projects, including 210 private investment projects, 84 more than last year, an increase of more than 50%, accounting for as much as 75% of industrial projects.
　　A review of the lists of projects recommended to private capital for 2024 recently announced in many places shows that support for private enterprises to participate in major projects has increased. For example, Shandong Province explicitly supports private enterprises in participating in railway, expressway, urban infrastructure and public service facility projects, and will not raise thresholds beyond the conditions and requirements explicitly set by the state.
　　Establishing a national database of key private investment projects will help private capital "invest quickly" and "invest well." The National Development and Reform Commission recently launched the application work for national key private investment projects; on the basis of applications from various regions, it will promptly carry out project screening and review and include eligible projects in the national database of key private investment projects.

　　— Strengthening factor guarantees and optimizing the investment environment.
　　"For private investment projects that align with the province's industrial development direction, the provincial finance department allocates 50 million yuan each year for interest subsidies—2 percentage points per year for two consecutive years—to support private enterprises in launching projects and expanding investment," said Li Shengrong, deputy director of the Shaanxi Provincial Development and Reform Commission.
　　Jiangxi is improving its project advancement mechanism and strengthening overall coordination and follow-up scheduling; Chongqing provides interest subsidies of no more than 50% of the actual loan interest rate for projects supported by "special loans for technological upgrading"; Yunnan is strengthening investment operation and project scheduling to further improve the precision of analysis and judgment... All regions are strengthening service guarantees and accelerating the conversion of investment into tangible work volume.
　　"As a series of favorable policies take effect, continuously stimulating the vitality of private investment and further optimizing the investment structure, the internal driving force of China's economic development is expected to be further enhanced," said Feng Wenmeng, a researcher at the Development Research Center of the State Council.