China vows more targeted infrastructure investment

BEIJING, March 6 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government will ensure its infrastructure Investment will be more targeted, an official said Wednesday.

He Lifeng, head of the National Development and Reform Commission, said at a press conference on the sidelines of the annual legislative session that measures are being taken to prevent Investment made by all levels of governments from causing new debts or half-finished projects.

A deluge of Investment with no specific target is neither necessary nor possible, he said.

Financing will support projects that are under construction or new ones that serve the overall economic and social needs, he said.

According to the government work report, China will expand infrastructure Investment in 2019, including 800 billion yuan (119 billion U.S. dollars) in railway construction and 1.8 trillion yuan in road construction and waterway projects. About 577.6 billion yuan is included in the central government budget for related Investment this year.

He said the government will use its spending and industrial policies to stimulate more private Investment.

Last year, private capital made up about 62 percent of the total fixed-asset Investment, he said. About 35 percent of these private Investments went to manufacturing and equipment upgrading.

The official said more will be done to boost private Investment for national economic and social development.