7 provinces launched 25 trillion key projects. What's new in this round of infrastructure investment?
At various conferences coordinating epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development in various places, stable investment has been highlighted as an important policy tool.
Under the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic and the downward economic pressure, provinces recently launched intensive investment plans. Not only that, the call for launching a new round of large-scale infrastructure is also growing.
7 provinces launch 25 trillion key projects
On February 23, at the fifteenth press conference on the prevention and control of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in Yunnan Province, Guo Jinhua, director of the Fixed Assets Investment Division of the Yunnan Development and Reform Commission, said that in 2020, Yunnan will launch 525 key projects with a total investment of about 5 trillion yuan, and plans to complete investment of more than 440 billion yuan in 2020.
Yunnan is not the only province that has issued investment plans at the critical stage of the new crown pneumonia epidemic prevention and control. Since the resumption of work in various places after the Spring Festival, many provinces have announced investment plans for key projects in 2020.
On February 20, Henan Province released 980 key construction projects for 2020, with a total investment of 3.3 trillion yuan, and plans to complete an investment of 837.2 billion yuan in 2020, covering industrial transformation and development, innovation-driven, infrastructure, new urbanization, and environmental protection. , People's livelihood and social undertakings.
On February 25, the Fujian Provincial Development and Reform Commission issued the "Notice on Printing and Distributing the List of Provincial Key Projects in 2020", which identified 1,567 key projects in Fujian Province in 2020, with a total investment of 3.84 trillion yuan. Among them, there are 1,257 projects under construction with a total investment of 2.97 trillion yuan and an annual planned investment of 500.5 billion yuan; 310 preparatory projects with an investment of 0.87 trillion yuan.
Prior to the Spring Festival, Sichuan, Chongqing, Shaanxi, and Hebei provinces have released investment plans for key projects this year. In 2020, there will be 700 key projects in Sichuan Province with a planned total investment of about 4.4 trillion yuan and an annual investment of more than 600 billion yuan; 1136 major projects in Chongqing with a total investment of 2.6 trillion yuan and an annual planned investment of 347.6 billion yuan; Shaanxi There are 600 provincial key projects with a total investment of 3.38 trillion yuan and an annual investment of 501.4 billion yuan; 536 key projects in Hebei Province with a total investment of 1.88 trillion yuan and an annual planned investment of 240.2 billion yuan.
Judging from the investment plans of key projects announced by these 7 provinces, the total investment is close to 25 trillion yuan, and the planned investment in 2020 is also nearly 3.5 trillion yuan. In addition, other provinces across the country have released a list of key projects, but have not announced the total investment, and some provinces have insufficient specific data.
For example, a person in charge of the Zhejiang Provincial Development and Reform Commission said in an interview with the media that in order to further promote the implementation of the integrated development strategy of the Yangtze River Delta and support the implementation of major landmark projects, Zhejiang will focus on more than 200 major projects in the future, with a total investment exceeding 20,000. 100 billion yuan, with a planned investment of about 300 billion yuan in 2020.
Yi Xiaoguang, president of the Chongqing Institute of Comprehensive Economics, told First Financial News that investment to drive economic growth is a feature of the Chinese economy. These investment projects started in various places are not targeted at the epidemic, but are arranged in the annual plan. Of course, in response to the impact of the epidemic, localities will certainly pay more attention to the construction of some public infrastructure.
As a matter of fact, stable investment has been highlighted as an important policy tool at various conferences coordinating epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development. From the progress of the resumption of production and production of key projects to the distribution of various factors and the policies and measures to deal with the epidemic situation, all regions have made strong and stable investments.
On February 28, the Sichuan Provincial Party Committee held a meeting of the Standing Committee and the Sixth Meeting of the Provincial Party Committee's Leading Group for Response to the New Coronavirus Pneumonia Epidemic Situation, demanding that the "troika" be focused on its precision, give full play to the key role of investment and seize policies The window strives to expand government investment and promotes social investment.
Experts recommend " new infrastructure "
At present, the idea of stabilizing investment by expanding the scale of infrastructure and driving economic growth has once again attracted attention.
For example, Ren Zeping, president of the Evergrande Economic Research Institute, recently proposed to start a new round of infrastructure. Ren Zeping believes that the simplest and most effective way to hedge the epidemic and the economic downturn is still infrastructure, and the introduction of "new infrastructure" will help stabilize growth and employment, release China's economic growth potential, and enhance long-term competitiveness.
Prior to the new crown pneumonia epidemic, China adopted a large-scale expansion of infrastructure construction in response to the Asian financial crisis in 1997, the SARS epidemic in 2003, and the international financial crisis in 2008.
Regarding the initiation of a large-scale investment response to the crisis, Wang Xiaogang, deputy leader of the macro group of the Sichuan Provincial Decision Advisory Committee, told First Financial that this is a special measure under special circumstances that can restore the economy as soon as possible, and the epidemic situation reflects our short Board, make up for shortcomings is a relatively clear investment direction.
The Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee also pointed out that a proactive fiscal policy must be more active and effective, and give play to the role of policy finance. A prudent monetary policy should be more flexible and appropriate, alleviating the difficulty of financing and expensive financing. The meeting emphasized the need to actively expand effective demand, promote consumer replenishment and potential release, play a key role in effective investment, increase the intensity of new investment projects, and accelerate the progress of projects under construction.
"The epidemic has revealed that we still have some shortcomings and weaknesses in areas such as social governance, public health facilities, emergency capacity building, and material reserve systems. The shortcomings are where the potential for investment growth lies next, and where we have room for development. We will do more To more accurately supplement shortcomings, strengths and weaknesses, and improve the quality and efficiency of economic development. "Cong Liang, secretary general of the National Development and Reform Commission, said at a press conference of the joint defense and joint control mechanism of the State Council on February 24.
At the fifteenth press conference on the prevention and control of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in Yunnan Province, Yunnan Province released a major "Double Ten" major infrastructure project, with a total investment of about 3.6 trillion yuan, mainly focusing on the infrastructure sector. Including railway, highway, cross-border power grid and smart grid, 5G network full coverage, multi-modal transport logistics network ten projects.
However, Ren Zeping believes that the key to starting a "new" round of infrastructure is "new", and to use a reform and innovation approach to promote a new round of infrastructure construction, rather than simply resuming the old path. For example, it is necessary to adjust the investment field and vigorously develop new infrastructure such as 5G, artificial intelligence, industrial Internet, smart cities, education and medical care on the basis of complementing traditional infrastructure such as railways, highways, and rail transit.
Yi Xiaoguang also believes that investment is the key to steady growth, but the investment structure determines the future supply structure and is an important aspect of whether the structure can be optimized. The current stage of investment traction is different from previous investment labor. The key lies in how to expand effective investment.
Therefore, he believes that expanding investment should focus on making up the shortcomings of the Chinese economy, and the most important thing is to promote the high-quality development of the economy. And the infrastructure we need to promote the development direction can be appropriately advanced construction, so as to shape the hardware environment of the new economic development and lead economic growth. (Li Xiuzhong)