Builders ramp up infra push

Local special bond issuances inject liquidity, boosting projects for early completion

The nation's massive infrastructure aspirations show no sign of slowing, as State-owned builders are accelerating major projects nationwide, which experts attribute to the increasingly abundant liquidity injected into the sector this year.

On the Jinhua-Jiande High-speed Railway in Zhejiang province, builders of China Railway 24th Bureau Group Corp Ltd (CR24), a unit of China Railway Construction Corp, recently finished a section of the concrete casting of a continuous beam for a rail bridge above Yuwu Creek.

The continuous beam was cast in three sections. The completed section, with a total length of 71.1 meters and a casting volume of 764 cubic meters, was finished last week using the bracket casting method.

Due to the large casting volume and high technical challenges, CR24 said its team organized supervision and operation teams to ensure construction quality, with a clear division of labor and responsibility.

When the concrete pouring began, standardized operations were strictly implemented, safety and quality control were strengthened, and key links such as tamping and compaction were closely monitored, CR24 said.

The successful pouring of the first section of the continuous beam marks a key milestone achieved faster than expected. The project department has made faster steps supported by ample labor and funding resources since the beginning of this year and is confident in completing its task objectives early, said Xu Yimeng, an employee with CR24's project team.

With a designed speed of 250 kilometers per hour, the high-speed railway is a locally built project to link Zhejiang's Jinhua, Lanxi and Jiande with China's major railway network, and aims to provide faster rail service for passengers traveling between Zhejiang and inland provinces.

Additionally, at the construction site of a shantytown renovation project in Shanghai, CR24 employees are readying materials for the upcoming construction of residential building frameworks.

According to the blueprints, the State contractor is supposed to deliver residential buildings for more than 2,100 households by the end of September 2024.

One of the earliest groups of modern communities rose in the 1950s — Pengyi Community — once a "community of glory" as it was home to various industries' role models in Shanghai, now awaits renovation as many of the infrastructure facilities serving it are in disrepair.

"Construction of the project stopped last year due to COVID-19.This year, holding the principle of building a high-quality project, the team has gone the whole hog to push forward progress to achieve as early a finish as possible," said Zhao Feng, project manager with CR24.

Listed as a key livelihood project in Shanghai, the renovation project has a total building area of 210,785 square meters and will have four facilities supporting residents' daily needs, including an elder care institute, which the project manager said aims to better serve the 585 households with senior residents aged above 80.

"We completed all of the underground construction work last week. The construction pace has gained obvious traction this year. We are confident we will accomplish the completion in time," the manager said.

Referring to the intensified and faster layout of infrastructure projects, experts said that ample funding is one of the main drivers to this end, especially with local government bonds playing a major role.

According to ChinaBond, as of May 23, the scale of new local bond issuances exceeded 2 trillion yuan ($282 billion), completing nearly 80 percent of the quota approved in advance. According to a report from China Futures, more than 60 percent of the funds target infrastructure construction.

"The issuance of special bonds will accelerate further in the future, and it is expected that the annual issuance task of 3.8 trillion yuan will be completed in the third quarter," said Luo Zhiheng, chief economist at Yuekai Securities.

"Infrastructure investment centered on major projects will continue to grow rapidly in the second quarter. For the whole year, new infrastructure investment may moderately exceed expectations and become a key point for stable investment," Luo said.