China's economic planner approves 170b yuan of building projects

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has approved more than 170 billion yuan (HK$210 billion) of railway and electricity projects on the mainland.

"The country needs infrastructure spending to drive its GDP growth. These approvals indicate rail construction is speeding up. But it's uncertain if rail construction projects will continue to grow as quickly after one year. It depends on the funds available," said Masterlink Securities analyst James Chung.

On Monday, NDRC approved a 31.2 billion yuan project to build seven metro rail lines totalling 212 kilometres in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region from 2012 to 2019, as well as an 18.2 billion yuan programme to build the 26.3km metro line 2 in Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian province, according to NDRC's website.

On the same day, NDRC approved a 25.7 billion yuan project to build an 88.5km track between Fuzhou and Pingtan.

Earlier in this month, NDRC approved a 70.7 billion yuan project to add 89km of new metro railway lines to Beijing between now and 2016, as part of the government's expansion of the capital's metro construction plan.

The new lines include a rail link connecting Beijing airport with the city's subway system. Under the revised government plan, Beijing will have 664km of metro railway by 2016.