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The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of China has announced a total of eight rail public private partnership (PPP) projects.

The pilot program, which includes the first batch of rail PPPs to be developed in the country, will test the adequacy of the PPP investment model for the rail sector. The announced projects are the following:

• Jinan to Qingdao high-speed railway PPP project in the province of Shandong
• Wuhan to Shiyan high-speed railway PPP project in the province of Hubei
• Hangzhou to Wenzhou high-speed railway PPP project in the province of Zhejiang
• Gallery Zhuo intercity railway PPP project in the province of Hebei
• Chongqing city to Aikawa intercity railway PPP project in the province of Chongqing
• Hefei Xinqiao Airport to Lu'an intercity railway PPP project in the province of Anhui
• Shao Hangzhou intercity railway station PPP project in the province of Zhejiang
• Sanmenxia to Fuzhou local railway PPP project in the province of Henan

These projects are part of the reform of the railway investment and financing plan to boost the development and upgrade of the country's railway system.

In China there are there are three ways for foreign capital to participate in PPP projects: directly invest in a PPP project and possibly set up a joint venture with a representative of local government (usually a local financing platform of government), form a bid consortium with Chinese enterprises and participate in PPP project as private capital side, or invest indirectly by establishing or participating in a PPP fund with representative of local government.

This announcement comes after the NDRC approved, on 6 January, the feasibility research reports of two new rail lines, Tongliao-Xinmin North Sation, with a total investment of RMB17.57 billion (US$2.67 billion) and Chifeng-Kazuo Station, with a total investment of RMB 17.02 billion (US$259 million).

Additionaly, the NDRC approved, on 8 January, RMB150 billion (US$22.8 billion) of road projects.

The NDRC recently held a conference on improving international capacity cooperation. A NDRC official said that in the near term, the country will promote the development of a number of key projects focusing on 12 industries, and speed up the construction of demonstration base of international capacity cooperation.

The projects are focused on the following sectors: steel, nonferrous metals, construction materials, railways, electricity, chemical engineering, textile, automobile, communication, engineering machinery, aviation and aerospace, shipping and marine engineering.