The demand for urban infrastructure on the mainland is expected to soar in the next few years, despite a flood of investment in new projects as part of the stimulus package following the global financial crisis.
The country's urbanisation would demand a "rapidly increasing" number of infrastructure projects in the coming years, said Li Tie, director of the China Centre for Urban Development under the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's top economic planner.
About 690 million people, or 51 per cent of the mainland's population, live in the country's urban areas.
That ratio is expected to rise to more than 60 per cent by 2020 by conservative estimates, which means cities should be able to accommodate an additional 100 million-plus people by then - 14 times Hong Kong's present population - according to Li, who is head of the think tank that advises the NDRC on urban planning policies.
This would call for more housing projects as well as roads, underground rail lines, railways, airports and other transport linking cities, he said.
The mainland has invested heavily in infrastructure in the past few years to drive economic growth, and a large portion of the 4 trillion yuan (HK$4.54 trillion) stimulus package following the 2008 United States loan crisis went into such projects.