China’s Nantong dreams big with infrastructure projects to drive growth in economic downturn
- The Hutong Yangtze River Bridge will be four times the length of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and is estimated to cost more than US$5.34 billion
- National Development and Reform Commission granted approvals for more than US$137.87 billion worth of projects in December to boost slowing economy
On a smoggy day in Nantong, an industrial town bordering Shanghai, workers are building the world’s longest railroad steel arch bridge, part of a multibillion-dollar investment to form a new economic zone around China’s financial hub.
The Hutong Yangtze River Bridge will measure 11,072 metres (38,393 feet) in length – four times that of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco – and is expected to be completed this year.
While Nantong, 150km (93 miles) north of Shanghai in the eastern Jiangsu province, may not be the most well-known city in China, it is betting on an ambitious infrastructure spending programme spanning the next few years to help transform its sleepy economy.
The construction of the double-deck bridge, which is estimated to cost more than 36 billion yuan (US$5.34 billion) by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), is mainly funded by the Jiangsu province itself and bank loans.
With China growing at its slowest pace in nearly three decades and fighting a trade war with the United States, questions have been raised whether the government’s conventional debt-fuelled investment model will be able to deliver the high-quality growth Beijing is striving for.
