Tianjin woos funds for road projects
THE Tianjin municipal government is to launch a series of preferential policies for foreigners investing in the city's 12 billion yuan (about HK$11.16 billion) worth of expressway projects.
Xian Yanming, deputy director of the Tianjin Municipal Engineering Bureau's foreign economy and affairs department, said the move would boost overseas companies' investment interests and minimise their risks in the development of the six expressways, which would run through the coastal cities. He said the policies, to be finalised by the end of this month, would involve 15 preferential items including tax holidays.
A toll collecting standard would refer to the system used in the Beijing-Tianjin Expressway but investors would be allowed a toll increment of about 20 per cent after each two to five years, he said.
Mr Xian said with an expected investment return of 15 per cent, overseas investors including Americans, Europeans, and investors from Thailand and Hong Kong, had expressed initial interests in the toll expressways.
He said investors expressed more interest in the Beijing-Fujian Expressway (Tianjin southern section).
It was part of a state planned expressway running from Beijing to Fujian province.
Mr Xian said a letter of intent had been signed between the Tianjin government and a consortium comprising Hong Kong investors.
The section, worth 1.2 billion yuan, was 44 km from Xiliucheng Bridge to the boundary of Qingxian in Hebei province.
Mr Xian said the government had signed a letter of intent with an overseas party to develop the Tianjin-Tanggu Road, a section of a state trunk road from Beijing to Tianjin harbour.
The section of the road was an important hub to connect the Tianjin urban area with Dongli, Tanggu and Tianjin Harbour.
Mr Xian did not identify the potential investor but said it would take a few more months to complete the formal contract.
Another was the Jing-Shen Road (Tianjin Section), which was the Beijing-Shenyang section of the state trunk road from Dandong to Lasa.
The Tianjin section, with a total investment cost of 1.157 billion yuan and 3.5 km long, would run through Tianjin's Baodi county.
The government was planning a 22 km Beijing-Baoding Road (Tianjin west section), linking with the proposed Tianjin-Shanxi Road (Tianjin section).
The final project was the Shanhaiguan-Guangzhou Road (Tianjin section), which would link the proposed Tianjin New District and other coastal districts in the city.
The city government guaranteed that investors could convert their toll revenue from yuan to foreign currencies through the country's swap centre, Mr Xian said.
