(ATF) A roster of top officials gathered in China’s main financial center, Shanghai, on Friday to announce spending plans totalling 2 trillion yuan (US$284 billion), and the issuing of 35 billion yuan worth of special bonds, which will be highly sought after.
Officials said the bonds were needed to guarantee construction funds. The Standing Committee of the State Council made it clear that this year “we will further increase the scale of local government special debt and expand effective investment to make up for shortcomings. The city has completed the issuance of 25 billion yuan of local special bonds, and the subsequent issuance of 10 billion yuan of special bonds will also be launched as soon as possible,” Sina Finance, a government website, reported.
Funds from the issuance will be used for major projects. Shanghai has announced major projects in the city this year focused on science and technology industries, social livelihoods, ecology, urban infrastructure, urban-rural integration and rural revitalization. A total of 152 formal projects were confirmed, including 128 projects under construction and 24 new construction projects.
Shanghai officials held a press conference at 2pm on April 10, 2020, Sina Finance said, which included high-ranking health officials, who spoke about prevention and control the coronavirus and pneumonia. They included the Health committee spokesperson Zheng Jin, city development and reform commission inspector Wang Kouzhu, economic IT committee deputy director Lu Ming, city planner Xu Jian, the deputy director of the Bureau of Resources, and Pei Xiao, deputy head of the Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Construction Management Committee.
A State Council executive meeting stressed the importance of work resuming on major investment projects to stabilize investment and expand domestic demand.
Wang Kouzhu said major projects were the top priority of all social investment and would have a leading role. Under the current situation, advancing the construction of major projects is of great significance for stable growth and investment.
Some of these projects were affected by the epidemic and encountered difficulties after the Spring Festival. On March 18, the municipal government held a working meeting to get things back on track. Now, work on all of the 128 major projects has resumed.
Major projects required total investment of 21 billion yuan in the first quarter, which was a significant decrease from the same period last year.
