HSR to generate output of US$64bn for China in 2015
2015-01-31
A train on the Lanzhou-Xinjiang high-speed railroad during a test run in Zhangye, Gansu province, Dec. 26, 2014. (File photo/ Xinhua)
China's high-speed rail is expected to generate US$64 billion in output value and help propel the country's "one belt, one road" proposal in 2015, reports Beijing's Securities Daily.
The total length of high-speed railway in China has exceeded 15,000 km after three new routes launched at the end of 2014, namely the Lanzhou-Xinjiang, Guiyang-Guangzhou and Nanning-Guangzhou lines.
China's effort in high-speed rail development has also reached beyond the domestic market. In July, 2014, the Ankara-Istanbul high-speed rail network jointly built by the Chinese was launched. More than 20 other countries, including Thailand, Brazil, Mexico and Russia have either been working with China to build high-speed rail networks or are seeking opportunities to work with the country on related projects. The total investment value has come to an estimated US$480 billion, the report says.
"Considering the approved railway-construction projects, the output value of China's high speed railway is likely to exceed US$64 billion in 2015," says Cai Jianming, an industrial analyst with Guangdong's CI Consulting.
The industrial chain of high-speed railway construction includes railroad construction, the design and construction of train and facilities and operational services. A growing number of projects in both China and overseas will prompt further economic growth in China, allowing it to transform its economic structure by addressing the dilemma of exporting low added-value products on a large scale and expanding its technologies worldwide, said Cai.
China's Ministry of Finance has said that a major task for the country in 2015 is to implement the strategic development of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, known as the "one belt, one road" project, and speed up infrastructure development. A number of Chinese economists have said that the key to the one belt, one road strategy is to advance the basic infrastructure that connect people and places.
Given that most of the countries encompassed in the one belt and one road map are emerging economies or developing countries where basic infrastructure is relatively inadequate, investors and developers will have ample room for development projects, the report said.
About a dozen Chinese companies in related fields have set up overseas branch in the last two months, seeking to profit from the one belt and one road plan.
China's railroad-construction industry will benefit and become more internationalized from the country's ambitious development plans that are reaching beyond the domestic market in 2015, while growing to be more advanced in terms of technology, the Securities Daily said.