Red Star News under Chengdu Economic Daily:

Expanding investment in transportation is an important measure to protect people's livelihoods and promote development, and it is also an effective tool to promote the stable growth of investment. What work has the MOT done in the past year to promote investment and steady growth, and what deployments has it made in the first year to fully implement the guiding principles of the 20th CPC National Congress? Thank you.

Li Xiaopeng:

Thank you for your question about investment. Last year, national transportation fixed asset investment reached 3.8 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6%, contributing to economic development. This year we will maintain a high transportation fixed asset investment level and continue to contribute our share to the economic development. Next, let me give the floor to Mr. Xu Chengguang to elaborate on this question.

Xu Chengguang:

Transport infrastructure has characteristics such as large investment scale, fast implementation, sound, comprehensive benefits, and a solid driving effect. As you said, it is an important measure to protect people's livelihoods and promote development, and it is also one of the important areas for stabilizing growth and expanding employment. In 2022, the MOT will adhere to the general principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability, fully implement policies for stabilizing the economy and follow-up policies and invest in transport infrastructure in a moderately advanced manner. As Mr. Li Xiaopeng introduced, asset investment exceeded 3.8 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of more than 6%, hitting a record high. Among them, the railway network received 710.9 billion yuan of investment in fixed assets, which was the same as the same period last year. The investment in fixed assets of highways was 2.9 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.7%. The investment in fixed assets of waterways was 167.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.9%. Investment in fixed assets in civil aviation exceeded 120 billion yuan, which was the same as the same period last year. It was not an easy year in 2022 for fixed asset investment in transportation to maintain a growth rate of more than 6%, keeping major economic indicators and operations within an appropriate range.

Last year, we focused primarily on three aspects of work:

First, we strengthened policy implementation. We formulated and issued policy documents aiming at expanding effective investment in transportation, including National Highway Network Planning and Opinions on Accelerating the Framework Construction of the National Comprehensive Three-dimensional Transportation Network. We also increased project reserves and preliminary work. We worked with the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Natural Resources and other relevant departments to make great efforts to solve problems such as land use and sea environment assessment for transportation projects, creating a good policy environment for expanding effective investment.

Second, we increased our efforts to promote projects. We focused on networking, supplementing the network, and reinforcing weak links in transportation. We implemented 11 major project packages, such as the National Expressway Major Corridors Connection Project , and accelerated the construction of the first batch of 16 major projects to build a country with a strong transport infrastructure. The spatial layout of the national comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network framework, consisting of six axes, seven corridors, and eight channels, came into shape. Several railways, highways, water transport and civil aviation projects were completed one after another. Regarding railways, we added 5,000 kilometers of operating range, including about 2,000 kilometers of high-speed railways. As for highways, about 70,000 kilometers of new highways were created, including about 8,000 kilometers of new expressways. Meanwhile, we added and improved 92 tonnage berths and approximately 800 kilometers of high-grade inland waterways. In terms of civil aviation, six new certified transport airports were added. Many key transportation projects, such as the Shenzhen-Zhongshan link, Sichuan-Tibet Railway and supporting highway projects, Chengdu-Lanzhou Railway, Pinglu Canal and other major projects of the Western Land-Sea New Corridor, Xiaoyangshan North Operation Area Container Terminal and supporting projects, and Nanning Airport T3 Terminal Area and supporting projects were advanced in an orderly manner. In 15 major cities, the first round of national comprehensive freight hub supplement and strengthening work was carried out, and a new round of rural road construction and renovation was launched. More than 180,000 kilometers of rural roads were rebuilt, representing a year-on-year increase of about 8%. About 13,800 dilapidated and old bridges were renovated, more than 20,000 kilometers of fine-tuning safety facilities were implemented, and more than 5,400 kilometers of disaster prevention and control projects were implemented.

Third, we raised construction funds from multiple sources. We have given full play to the leading role of central funds. In 2022, the central government arranged special funds of more than 340 billion yuan for road and waterway construction. We strived actively for local government special bonds to be used in transportation projects, strengthened cooperation with financial institutions, and gave full play to the role of policy-based development financial instruments and supporting credit financing to support transportation projects. We promoted the public-private partnership (PPP) model, steadily carried out pilot projects for infrastructure real estate investment trusts (REITs), and actively attracted social capital to participate in transportation construction.

This year, we will fully implement the guiding principles of the 20th CPC National Congress, adhering to the general principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability. We will also actively expand effective investment in transportation and provide strong support for achieving an overall upturn in economic performance. First, we will continue to focus on networking, supplementing the network, strengthening weak links in the transportation chain, and accelerating the construction of key transportation projects. Second, we will strengthen financial and policy guarantees, effectively encouraging investment in the whole society through government investment and policy incentives. Third, we will increase pre-project work and project reserves, continuing to lay a solid foundation for expanding effective investment in transportation. Thank you.