LIU XIAOGUANG IS the man tasked, quite literally, with the construction of the new China. As chairman of the state-owned Beijing Capital Group, he is at the helm of one of the country's largest infrastructure, public utility and real estate companies.
The incredible scale and pace of activity above and below ground in China is partly thanks to the various joint ventures the group has with partners such as French water giant Veolia, Hong Kong's MTR Corp and Dutch financial services firm ING.
At its modest beginnings in 1995, when the government threw more than 100 capital-starved firms together under the Capital Group umbrella, Mr Liu, 51, was transferred from his government planning position to head up the conglomerate.
'We only had about 10 million yuan in cash between more than 100 companies,' he said. 'After 10 years of hard effort we are now the number one water company in China, dealing with 7.2 million tonnes of sewage.'
The company's infrastructure and public utility business, including subway and highway construction, water business and gas, now accounts for 50 per cent of the group's revenue; its Beijing Capital Land real estate subsidiary makes up about 30 per cent and financial and other services account for the remaining 20 per cent.
Mr Liu said the group aimed to be a pan-Asian player with sales of about 20 billion yuan and profits of well over 1 billion yuan. In 2004, the company made post-tax profit of 590 million yuan on sales of 5.67 billion yuan.