In the first half of 2021, investment in major construction projects in China has grown steadily. On August 17, the National Development and Reform Commission held a press conference. Meng Wei, spokesperson of the National Development and Reform Commission, responded to a reporter’s question on "How to reasonably expand effective investment in the second half of the year? How to promote the physical workload at the end of 2021 and early 2020?" For engineering projects, we will guide and urge all localities to make high-quality preparations for special bond projects in the second half of 2021 and the first half of 2020, to ensure that the special bonds can be put into project construction in a timely manner after the issuance of the special bonds, and the physical workload can be formed as soon as possible.

In the second half of the year, five areas make efforts to stabilize investment

As an important support for economic growth, steady investment is gradually exerting its strength. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, from January to July 2021, China's fixed asset investment (excluding rural households) increased by 10.3% year-on-year; taking January-July 2019 as the base period, the two-year average growth rate was 4.3%, down from the first half of the year. 0.1 percentage point; a month-on-month increase of 0.18% in July.

According to the latest data released by the National Development and Reform Commission, in July, 8 fixed asset investment projects were approved, with a total investment of 58.2 billion yuan, mainly in the fields of transportation and energy.

Luo Yifei, chief statistician of the Investment Department of the National Bureau of Statistics, said that overall, fixed asset investment continued to recover and the structure continued to be optimized. At the same time, we must also note that unstable and uncertain factors affecting investment still exist. Recently, Jiangsu, Henan, Hunan and other regions have been affected by the flood conditions and the epidemic, and the construction progress of Jian'an investment and construction has slowed down.

Meng Wei said that in order to better play the key role of effective investment and consolidate the continued growth of investment, the National Development and Reform Commission will work with relevant departments and localities to earnestly implement the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, focusing on five aspects. Shortcomings and stable investment work.

The first is to actively promote the implementation of major engineering projects identified in the "14th Five-Year Plan". The "Outline" of the "14th Five-Year Plan" proposes 102 major engineering projects, which is an important support for keeping the economy operating within a reasonable range and speeding up the construction of a new development pattern. It is necessary to give full play to its leading role, promptly establish a major engineering project implementation and promotion mechanism, further subdivide 102 major projects into specific construction projects, form a list, strengthen element guarantees, and orderly promote project implementation, so as to start a batch of projects. One batch is put into production and one batch is reserved.

The second is to take multiple measures to stabilize manufacturing investment. On the one hand, it actively supports investment in advanced manufacturing, continuously improves and makes good use of mechanisms such as "revealing the rankings" and "horse racing", and speeds up making up for shortcomings in the supply chain of the industrial chain. On the other hand, guide enterprises to increase investment in technological transformation, strengthen the guidance and incentives of traditional manufacturing carbon emission reduction policies, and promote green and low-carbon investment. At the same time, it is necessary to implement comprehensive policies to ease the pressure of rising prices of bulk commodities, implement various cost reduction policies, and increase the investment motivation of mid- and downstream manufacturing enterprises.

The third is to do a solid job in the preliminary work of the project. The focus is to urge all localities to increase investment in the preliminary work of the project, and make the preliminary work deep, detailed, and solid. In accordance with laws and regulations, we will speed up the process of project approval, approval, and land use, planning, environmental assessment and other procedures, accelerate preparations for land requisition, demolition, and municipal supporting facilities, and promote a batch of projects to have the conditions to start construction as soon as possible. At the same time, deepen the reform of decentralization, management and service in the investment field, and improve the efficiency of the preliminary work of the project.

The fourth is to give play to the leading role of government investment. In terms of investment within the central budget, the National Development and Reform Commission will speed up the implementation of the plan, organize ahead of schedule the preparation of the investment plan within the central budget for 2020, and concentrate its efforts on major and difficult tasks. In terms of local government special bonds, the National Development and Reform Commission will guide and urge all localities to make high-quality preparations for special bond projects in the second half of 2021 and the first half of 2020 to ensure that the special bonds can be invested in project construction in a timely manner and the physical workload can be formed as soon as possible after the issuance of special bonds.

The fifth is to further mobilize the enthusiasm of private investment. In order to better play an effective market role, the National Development and Reform Commission will continue to improve policies to support social capital participation, and attract private capital to participate in the construction of municipalities, transportation, ecological environment, and social undertakings to make up for shortcomings. Standardize the promotion of the government-private capital cooperation (PPP) model, and steadily carry out pilot projects for real estate investment trust funds (REITs) in the infrastructure sector to revitalize existing assets and form a virtuous circle of investment.

Zhong Zhengsheng, chief economist of Ping An Securities, believes that infrastructure investment urgently needs to be accelerated. Considering that the heavy rain in July will affect the pace of infrastructure project construction, the issuance of local special bonds is bound to accelerate in August and September. It is expected that the new issuance in these two months will be around 1.3 trillion yuan, and the remaining 1 trillion yuan will be issued in December. Infrastructure investment It is expected to become a key force for steady growth in the second half of the year.

Comprehensive measures will be implemented to ensure the supply and price stability of bulk commodities

In response to the next step to deal with the price fluctuations of bulk commodities, Meng Wei said that the National Development and Reform Commission will continue to pay attention to the trend of bulk commodity prices, make good use of both domestic and foreign resources, and comprehensively adopt a variety of measures, including increasing production and supply, timely reserve investment, Strengthen import and export regulation, increase market supervision, etc., and earnestly do a good job in ensuring the supply of bulk commodities and stabilizing prices.

Keywords: infrastructure construction, infrastructure construction, domestic engineering news, infrastructure engineering news

She pointed out that in order to ensure the basic stability of domestic fertilizer supply and prices, the National Development and Reform Commission will work with relevant departments and units to strengthen the analysis and judgment of market supply and demand and price situation, comprehensively implement policies, combine the long and short, and actively adopt measures including promoting the reduction of the production cost of fertilizer enterprises, Support enterprises to increase operating rate and output, strengthen reserves and import and export adjustments, unblock the transportation and distribution of finished fertilizers and raw materials, maintain the order of fertilizer market circulation, and vigorously promote the reduction of fertilizer application and efficiency and other policy measures to ensure the supply and price of fertilizers are basically stable. Editor/Xu Shengpeng