Build a platform to promote projects and let private capital "dare to invest, will invest, and can invest"

From building a private capital project promotion platform to comprehensively sorting out the project list, recently, a series of practical measures have been taken from the central and local governments to promote the development of private investment. The reporter learned that as of September 2, more than 3500 projects had been reported to be promoted to private capital, with a total investment of more than 3.7 trillion yuan, covering major projects, industrial projects and franchising projects, involving clean energy, new infrastructure, advanced manufacturing and other fields.

On July 24, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the "17 Articles" on promoting private investment, emphasizing support for private capital to participate in major projects, clearly establishing a unified platform for promoting projects to private capital, and requiring all regions to comprehensively sort out the list of projects attracting private capital.

Cong Liang, Deputy Director of the National Development and Reform Commission, said at the recent press conference held by the State Council Information Office that all regions have sorted out and submitted three lists of projects to be introduced to private capital, including the list of major projects, the list of industrial projects, and the list of franchising projects. The reporter learned that from the perspective of specific industries, projects that encourage private capital to participate in adapt to local conditions are mainly concentrated in key areas such as transportation, water conservancy, clean energy, new infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, modern facility agriculture, etc.

Shanxi is an important comprehensive energy base in China. Wang Maosheng, deputy director of Shanxi Provincial Energy Administration, said that by the end of July 2023, the installed capacity of solar power generation in Shanxi Province was 44 million kilowatts, of which the scale of private capital investment accounted for about 50%. Among the 133 new energy projects with an installed capacity of 14.18 million kilowatts arranged last year, 50 projects with private capital participated in the development and construction, with an installed capacity of 6.08 million kilowatts, accounting for 42.9%. In the field of transportation, Shanxi proposed that all toll roads select project investors through bidding. "The toll road market in Shanxi Province is managed at different levels. The national highway network is built in the province, the provincial highway network is built in the city, and the ordinary national and provincial highway toll road projects are authorized to be built by the municipal and county governments. All the toll road projects listed in the relevant national and provincial plans and planned to be newly built are open to private enterprises," said Duan Xinyuan, deputy director of Shanxi Provincial Department of Transport and director of the provincial Civil Aviation Airport Administration.

Zhejiang recently released several measures to promote the high-quality development of private economy, and also put forward a list of projects to promote to private enterprises around infrastructure, key industries and other fields.

Wu Youhong, director of the Investment System and Policy Research Office of the Investment Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Macroeconomics, said in an interview with the reporter that clarifying key areas of support and promoting the promotion of private capital projects is conducive to building a project information communication mechanism and forming a demonstration effect. Previously, some private enterprises reported that they were uncertain about the investment direction and field, especially the government investment projects they could participate in. The establishment of a unified project promotion platform, the release of project promotion, support policy and other information, and the role of the platform as a matchmaker will help private capital more easily access to relevant project information.

There are good projects to invest in, as well as funds to invest in. Difficult and expensive loans have long plagued private enterprises, limiting their ability to invest in private capital. To this end, the National Development and Reform Commission played the role of the investment and loan linkage mechanism established with seven banks, including the National Development Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and CITIC Bank, and pushed the first 715 private investment projects to relevant banks, asking relevant financial institutions to independently select qualified projects for financial support in accordance with the principles of marketization and rule of law.

In view of the weak anti risk ability of some private enterprises, the lack of collateral, and the lack of willingness of some financial institutions to support private enterprises in financing, Shanxi, Xiamen and other places have introduced measures to strengthen credit enhancement support for private enterprises in credit financing, and promote the reduction of the comprehensive financing guarantee rate of government financing guarantee institutions to below 1%.

Wu Youhong said that the next step is to further optimize the development environment, stabilize the expectations of private enterprises, and guide private investment to take root. "The support policy for private investment should be long-term, rather than cyclical, and should not swing from side to side with changes in economic situation and public opinion environment. In order to effectively optimize the development environment, the policy commitments made by the local government to private enterprises should be strictly in accordance with the law and regulations. It is not allowed to illegally and illegally promise preferential conditions for the purpose of attracting investment and other purposes, which leads to the failure to implement the conditions as promised later. "