China’s first privately controlled high-speed railway in Zhejiang province will provide a promising example for private capital to invest in the nation’s railway sector, experts said. As the first high-speed railway largely funded by domestic private capital, the 266.9-kilometer Hangzhou-Shaoxing-Taizhou intercity high-speed railway greatly shortens travel time between the three cities in Zhejiang. Construction of the railway began in December 2017. After four years of construction, the high-speed railway line officially opened on January 8. The CNY44.9 billion project is constructed via a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, with a private consortium led by Fosun Group holding 51%. The remaining funding comes from China Railway Development Fund (15%), Zhejiang Provincial Transportation Investment Group on behalf of the provincial government (13.6%), and the local governments of Shaoxing (10.2%) and Taizhou (10.2%).
“This is the very first high-speed railway mainly funded by private capital. It sets a successful and replicable example for private capital entering into railway investment and construction, and it also provides important experience for diversifying railway investment,” said Yang Xiuzhi, Senior Engineer with the China Railway Shanghai Group Co. In January, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) encouraged PPP projects to entice more social entities to invest in public services. Data from the national PPP information platform showed a total of 403 projects were added to the database in 2021, among which 149 were related to urban infrastructure.
“Global experience proved that railway lines funded with diversified capital sources have great outlooks,” said Sun Zhang, Professor specializing in railway and urban rail transit research at Tongji University in Shanghai. “Building railway lines funded by multiple parties will become much more efficient and possible than those invested by one company alone,” Sun added, as reported by the China Daily.
