Unit 2 of CGN's Shandong Zhaoyuan Nuclear Power Project starts constructionThe first concrete pour for the nuclear islandwas placed, the main works of the Huadian Lingbao Pumped Storage Power Station broke ground, and the Linhe–Hami Railway Linhe–Ejin section capacity expansion and upgrading project got fully underway... Recently, as the peak construction season arrives, major engineering projects have started in many places.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) recently held a meeting on advancing major projects under the 15th Five-Year Plan Outline, reviewing progress on 109 major projects, accelerating implementation of projects under construction, pushing a batch of new projects to start as early as possible, further strengthening factor guarantees, tightening responsibility for project quality and safety management, and forming a joint force to advance major projects, thereby providing strong support for a good start to the 15th Five-Year Plan.

Since the beginning of this year, the decline in investment growth has drawn widespread attention. The NDRC has recently held a series of intensive special meetings to step up work on promoting effective investment. Several experts told Yicai that in the next stage the pace of fiscal expenditure is expected to accelerate, and with the joint support of faster progress on "Two Major"and "Six Networks" projects, the continued leadership of new growth drivers, and a lower base, the decline in investment is expected to narrow gradually, with infrastructure investment growth expected to pick up.

Major project construction is accelerating

Major projects are large in investment volume and long in industrial chains, can quickly generate physical工作量, and have a huge pulling effect on investment.

Jiang YiDirector of the Policy Research Office and Spokesperson of the NDRCsaid recently that the 109 major projects in the 15th Five-Year Plan Outline are being implemented at a faster pace. This year, a batch of major projects have started, including the Three Gorges New Waterway, the new Guangzhou Airport, and the Fujian Shangbaishi Water Conservancy Hub, while preliminary work on projects such as the eastern and western sections of the Xinjiang–Xizang Railway and the modernization of the Sichuan Dujiangyan Irrigation District is also being accelerated, with efforts to start construction as early as possible and generate physical工作量.

Yicai noted that several projects in key areas such as energy and railways have recently started construction. On September 5, Unit 2 of CGN's Shandong Zhaoyuan Nuclear Power Project began the first concrete pour for the nuclear island, marking the official start of the unit's main works and the entry of the project's Phase I into the full construction stage.

The nuclear power industry has a strong driving effect on the industrial chain. According to Yu Xiangdong, Executive Director of Shandong Zhaoyuan Nuclear Power Co., Ltd., Zhaoyuan Nuclear Power is leveraging its industrial advantages to build platforms such as industrial chain matchmaking meetings and supply-demand matchmaking meetings, actively bringing local Shandong enterprises into the "Hualong One" supply chain system. More than 300 Shandong enterprises have now established cooperative relations with Zhaoyuan Nuclear Power. The project is being integrated into the clean heating network of the Jiaodong Peninsula in Shandong Province, building a demonstration base for comprehensive nuclear energy utilization and advancing demonstration applications such as nuclear heating and industrial steam supply.

On August 31, as pile foundation drilling began for the first pier of the grand bridge on the connecting line between theLinhe–Hami Railwayand the Baotou–Lanzhou Railway in Linhe District, Bayannur City, the Linhe–Hami Railway Linhe–Ejin section capacity expansion and upgrading project, a key project in the national 15th Five-Year Plan, got fully underway.

After completion of this capacity expansion and upgrading project, 18 stations will be able to receive and dispatch 10,000-tonne-class freight trains, achieving seamless connection with the electrified traction of the Baotou–Lanzhou Railway. Transport capacity and efficiency will be significantly further improved, with annual freight dispatch capacity jumping from the current 30 million tonnes to about 200 million tonnes, providing a stable and reliable heavy-haul transport corridor for the national "west-to-east coal transport" and "Xinjiang coal outward transport" strategies.

Meanwhile, since the second half of the year, a number of key railway projects have achieved phased breakthroughs. The Foshan Station of the Guangzhou–Zhanjiang High-Speed Railway has opened for operation, with the fastest travel time between the city centers of Guangzhou and Foshan reaching 18 minutes; the Xi'an–Ankang High-Speed Railway has launched full-line integrated testing; the Shanxi section of the Xiong'an–Xinzhou High-Speed Railway has begun track laying; the Fenhu Tunnel of the Nantong–Ningbo High-Speed Railway has started ballastless track construction; the Ankang–Chongqing section of the Chongqing–Hunan High-Speed Railway has completed box girder erection across the entire line; and the Caiyuanba Yangtze River Railway Tunnel of the Chongqing–Xiamen High-Speed Railway in Chongqing has been holed through.

According to the deployment at the China State Railway Group's work conference at the beginning of the year, this year's goal is to complete infrastructure investment of 520 billion yuan and put more than 2,000 kilometers of new lines into operation.

Policies to stabilize investment continue to intensify

The accelerated implementation of major projects cannot be separated from strong funding guarantees.

On August 28, the NDRC, together with relevant departments, held a national investment work promotion meeting. The meeting called for increasing the scheduling and supervision of "Two Major" construction and central budget investment projects, accelerating theissuance and use of local government special bondsand the deployment ofnew-type policy-based financial instrumentsfunds, strictly enforcing fund supervision, and ensuring timely payment of funds.

At the level of fiscal funds, on August 21, at a series of themed press conferences on "Starting the 15th Five-Year Plan" held by the State Council Information Office, Vice Minister of FinanceLiao Minsaid that on the investment side, the issuance and use ofultra-long-term special government bondswill be accelerated, of which 800 billion yuan in "Two Major" funds has been fully allocated to support the construction of 1,417 major projects in key areas. Giving play to the leveraging role of local government special bonds, as of the end of July, 2.4 trillion yuan of new special bonds for 2026 had been issued nationwide, supporting more than 18,000 construction projects.

Liao Min said that in the second half of the year, more than 2 trillion yuan of local government special bonds and ultra-long-term special government bonds remain to be issued and used. For the same period, this scale is also relatively large compared with previous years and can continue to maintain policy intensity. The Ministry of Finance will promptly guide local authorities in organizing bond issuance, strengthen project preliminary preparation, and push projects to start construction as soon as possible to generate more physical工作量.

In terms of boosting private investment, on August 20, Zheng Shanjie, Director of the NDRC, chaired a symposium to hear opinions and suggestions from private enterprises on stabilizing economic operations and promoting effective investment. Zheng Shanjie said that efforts will be made to coordinate the advancement of major projects in the 15th Five-Year Plan Outline and the planning and construction of the "Six Networks," solidly advance "Two Major" construction and "Two New" work, improve the long-term mechanism for private enterprises to participate in major national projects, further remove hidden barriers, expand scenario opening, strengthen factor support, protect legitimate rights and interests, fully stimulate the vitality of private investment, and promote sustained, innovation-driven, and improving economic development.

Earlier, on August 14, the NDRC deployed work to accelerate the deployment of new-type policy-based financial instruments for 2026 and increase support for private investment projects.

This year China will continue to issue new-type policy-based financial instruments, with a funding scale of 800 billion yuan, an increase of 300 billion yuan over last year. Pang Ming, a member of the China Chief Economist Forum, told Yicai that the pulling effect of new-type policy-based financial instruments on private investment is mainly reflected in four aspects: first, effectively supplementing project capital. This breaks the bottleneck and gap of insufficient capital when private enterprises participate in major projects and leverages more social capital investment.

Infrastructure investment growth expected to recover moderately

Looking at leading indicators, the National Bureau of Statistics' latest August construction industry business activity index was 46.9%, down 0.1 percentage point from the previous month, but the civil engineering construction business activity index rose nearly 2 percentage points from the previous month to above 52%.

In addition to the rising business activity, the demand side, upstream and downstream prices, and market expectations of the civil engineering construction industry all showed improvement. Although the new orders index for civil engineering construction remained below 50, it rose significantly from the previous month; the input prices index and sales prices index both rose to varying degrees from the previous month and both climbed above 52%; and the business activity expectations index rose above 54%.

Wu Wei, an expert at the China Logistics Information Center, said that taking the data changes together, the supporting role of civil engineering construction in stabilizing investment has begun to show. It is expected that after September, as seasonal weather disturbances such as high temperatures and floods gradually fade, a batch of major projects will be implemented at a faster pace, and the construction of "Six Networks" infrastructure will also continue to accelerate. Relying on the triple forces of policy guidance, funding guarantees, and endogenous market drivers, infrastructure investment is expected to continue to increase and fully play its key supporting role in stabilizing growth.

Wu Chaoming, Chief Economist of Caixin Financial Holdings, told Yicai that looking ahead, against the backdrop of prominent pressure to stabilize growth and employment and the fading risk of extreme disruptions in external supply chains, the pace of fiscal expenditure and the use of bond funds is expected to accelerate. Combined with the joint support of faster progress on "Six Networks" projects, the continued leadership of new growth drivers, and a lower base, the decline in investment in the second half of the year is expected to narrow gradually.

He said that structurally, infrastructure investment is expected to recover moderately under the support of fiscal efforts and major projects; the structure of manufacturing investment is expected to continue to optimize, but under K-shaped divergence it may operate at a low level overall; and real estate investment is likely to continue its bottoming-out and adjustment trend.