City expects more private and state investments as it strives to become western region's business hub
Chongqing is targeting 100 billion yuan of investments in industrial upgrades and infrastructure from private and state-owned enterprises this year as the city steps up efforts to turn itself into an industrial hub for the western region, according to municipal government officials.
'This amount will be the biggest ever and is a bit higher than in recent years,' said Zhang Dingyu, director of the Chongqing Land Resources & Housing Administration Bureau. 'Most of the investments will be from state-owned enterprises in particular but also from private and foreign firms.'
Investment in Chongqing's industrial sector last year topped 75 billion yuan, a 33 per cent increase from a year earlier, according to government figures.
Beijing has pumped huge amounts of money into the city's infrastructure over the past 10 years and this year the government also plans to invest 6.5 billion yuan in upgrading and expanding the municipal power grid and a further 5.2 billion in a new power and coal base.
But the increased investment by individual enterprises is an evolution from the government bond-funded 'go west' policy of previous years.
About 73 billion yuan of this year's investments will be in 10 major projects, including 7.5 billion yuan in a new production plant by Promos Technologies, Taiwan's second-largest market of memory chips, 17 billion yuan by Chongqing Iron and Steel Group in environmental upgrades and 8.2 billion yuan by Changan Auto Group in relocation and organisational restructuring.