Multiple professionals told the reporter that after the implementation of railway investment, projects like subways and intercity railways will significantly increase land prices along the routes. In this way, the government will not only increase revenue from land sales but also stimulate the economy, achieving multiple goals at once. However, Cheng Biding, vice president of the China Regional Economic Research Association, told the reporter that it is not wrong for localities to accelerate investment, but they must act within their means and respect the objective laws of economic development. "Some urgent projects can be pushed forward, but many less urgent projects can be delayed. We cannot blindly launch large projects, otherwise the debt problem will be difficult to solve."

    Localities Blow the Investment Horn Again

    Currently, various localities are issuing documents or holding meetings to deploy the next phase of investment work.

    Among them, the General Office of the Sichuan Provincial People's Government issued the "Eight Measures for Grasping Investment and Stabilizing Growth in the Second Half of the Year", which includes effectively advancing the construction of key provincial projects and actively aligning with national policies for stabilizing growth and adjusting structure.

    Guizhou released the "Supervision Report on the Implementation of Document No. 2 of the State Council in the First Half of 2013", proposing to accelerate the planning of a batch of infrastructure projects and real economy projects with strong driving force and significant demonstration effects in the second half of the year.

    The Chongqing Development and Reform Commission proposed six measures to ensure that the decomposed investment targets are implemented month by month. It adheres to the goal of achieving a 20% increase in investment for the whole year and ensures that investment completes 660 billion yuan in the second half of the year.

    In addition, Jiangsu also has the "Opinions of the Provincial Government on Supporting the Comprehensive Well-off Construction in Northern Jiangsu", proposing to implement the Northern Jiangsu Railway Construction Project and quickly form the main railway framework in the hinterland of Northern Jiangsu.

    The Development and Reform Commissions and provincial leaders of Anhui, Sichuan, Shaanxi and other places also deployed the advancement of some major projects to the National Development and Reform Commission, China Railway Corporation, and held separate meetings.

    In this regard, Deng Tao, director of the Decision Consulting Research Center of the Chongqing Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out that localities are more willing to use investment to drive economic growth, especially strengthening infrastructure construction, which is conducive to optimizing resource allocation.

    Interestingly, official data shows that in the first half of this year, only a few places including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Hainan, Tibet, and Yunnan saw faster investment growth than last year.

    An official from the development and reform system of a prefecture-level city told our reporter that localities do want to accelerate, but many projects lack funds for implementation. The best way is to seek national support, but the state has not yet included them in the plan. Localities can include them in their plans, but they do not have that much money.

    "Rail, Highway, Airport" and Shantytown Renovation Become Priorities

    Interestingly, the current acceleration of investment and the proposal to increase project reserves are related to the direction of national policy support. For example, railways, highways, airports, and shantytown renovation projects have become the focus.

    On July 31, Xu Shaoshi, director of the National Development and Reform Commission, pointed out in an interview that in the second half of the year, it is necessary to maintain reasonable investment growth, accelerate the implementation of key construction tasks specified in the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan", strengthen transportation infrastructure construction such as railways, and increase investment in shantytown renovation and supporting infrastructure.

    Among them, shantytown renovation has become one of the local priorities. Previously, at the State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang, the new government introduced a new plan to renovate another 10 million households in shantytowns in the next five years (including 3.04 million households in 2013).

    In terms of railways, Chongqing proposed to strive to resolve land acquisition and demolition issues for six railway projects including the Chengdu-Chongqing Passenger Dedicated Line and the Changhua Special Line, and railway projects such as the Shapingba Railway Station Comprehensive Hub, as well as two airport projects including the third runway of Jiangbei Airport and the East Terminal Area, in the third quarter.

    Jiangsu proposed to accelerate the construction of the Northern Jiangsu railway network and the coastal cross-river railway. Among them, the Lianyungang-Yancheng Railway is included in the 2013 start-up plan, and the Northern Jiangsu Railway Construction Project is implemented. The Lianyungang-Yancheng Railway strives to start construction within the year, and the Lianyungang-Huai'an-Yangzhou-Zhenjiang Railway and the Xuzhou-Suqian-Huai'an-Yancheng Railway strive to start construction next year, so as to quickly form the main railway framework in the hinterland of Northern Jiangsu.

    Anhui is preparing to accelerate the preliminary work of projects such as the Shangqiu-Hefei-Hangzhou Railway, Huangshan-Hangzhou Railway, Hefei-Anqing-Jiujiang Railway, Lujiang-Tongling Railway, and Lu'an-Jingdezhen Railway, striving to start construction as soon as possible.

    Our reporter learned that the above projects are of great significance to both the whole country and local areas. For example, taking the Lianyungang-Yancheng Railway as an example, an official from the Nantong Railway Office told the reporter that this railway is part of the Qingdao-Shanghai route. The Yancheng-Nantong and Nantong-Shanghai railways are also planned. The completion of these lines means that there will be a coastal passenger dedicated line from Dalian to Guangzhou in China in the future.

    Cheng Biding also believes that these lines will connect several economic circles. For example, after the completion of the Shangqiu-Hefei-Hangzhou Railway, the Central Plains Economic Zone will be connected to the Yangtze River Delta. The completion of the Huangshan-Hangzhou Railway means that the Yangtze River Delta will expand to Huangshan.

    It is understood that since the authority for intercity railways has been delegated to local governments, various localities are preparing to launch new projects to solve the problem of being difficult to include in the national railway network in the short term.