Shi Yaobin, Vice Minister of Finance and head of the PPP (Public-Private Partnership) Leading Group, said at the first meeting of the 2017 PPP Leading Group that the good momentum of accelerated project implementation continued in the first quarter of 2017, with a 28% increase in net newly implemented projects, and that the fourth batch of demonstration projects will be launched in a standardized manner this year.

Since the PPP reform was advanced more than three years ago, positive results have been achieved. In particular, all work progressed smoothly in 2016: the number and scale of implemented PPP projects grew more than fourfold compared with 2015, the coverage of regions and industries further expanded, private enterprise participation steadily increased, and the development environment continued to improve.

At the same time, positive progress was also made in institutional development, publicity and training, fund investment, and basic management. All sectors of society have increasingly high expectations for the PPP reform, and the problems and challenges facing the reform are becoming more complex and arduous. To this end, the Ministry of Finance proposed that, centering on the goals of "promoting standardization" and "preventing risks," it will continue to improve the institutional system, optimize the development environment, and increase support, striving to achieve new breakthroughs in the project implementation rate, private enterprise participation rate, and standardized operation.

In 2017, the focus will be on improving the PPP institutional system, vigorously promoting PPP development in agriculture and the happiness industries, launching the fourth batch of demonstration projects in a standardized manner, increasing the guiding and supporting role of PPP reward and subsidy funds and PPP funds, further optimizing the development environment, and pushing PPP work to achieve greater results.