The Chinese economy could be getting a much needed boost from various infrastructure upgrades to the tune of 4 billion yuan (US$551 billion) over the next five years, according to the deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission, Zhao Chengfeng.
During a roundtable event held on Monday, Zhao was cited by Xinhua as saying that the projects involve upgrading “invisible” infrastructure such as gas and water supply, and traffic, energy and heating systems.
He additionally spoke of the need for the continuation of major investments in the area of water conservancy, especially in light of flooding disasters in the Yangtze and Haihe River Basin, which have exposed weaknesses in the infrastructure.
The senior official also noted the important role that infrastructure, including high-tech and facilities such as cloud computing and data centres, plays in developing a strong national economy.
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Besides infrastructure, Zhao mentioned other major areas that are expected to sustain rapid growth in the coming years, including emerging and “future” industries such as quantum science, artificial intelligence, low-altitude economy, aviation and aerospace.
His announcement comes as China’s economy faces slowing growth due to a variety of factors, including an ageing population, a weakening real estate sector and record youth unemployment.
In order to address the stagnating economy, Chinese leaders have implemented several stimulus measures, relaxed property curbs and opened the country’s doors to more tourists through the relaxation of visa policies.
For this year, the country is aiming for a GDP growth of around 5 percent, which the authorities believe they will achieve, with data from the National Bureau of Statistics revealing that the country’s GDP experienced a year-on-year growth of 4.8 percent between January and September of this year.
