(Yicai) April 20 -- China’s state planner has issued a second batch of key construction projects for this year, allocating CNY216.8 billion (USD31.8 billion) in ultra-long special treasury bond funds to support them, in an effort to attract more market-oriented funds to boost investment growth and the wider economy.

The 336 projects on the new list cover key sectors, such as artificial intelligence infrastructure, urban underground pipeline network, transportation infrastructure for the Yangtze River Economic Belt, high-standard farmland, quality improvement, and upgrading of higher education, the National Development and Reform Commission announced yesterday.

Funding from ultra-long special treasury bonds for key construction projects this year has now reached CNY606.5 billion (USD89 billion), or 76 percent of the CNY800 billion earmarked for the whole of 2026. The pace of fund allocation is faster than the less than 50 percent mark seen in the same period of last year.

The NDRC’s key construction project lists cover programs supporting self-reliance in science and technology, integrated urban-rural development, coordinated regional development, high-quality population development, food security, energy and resource security, and ecological security.

Driven by the accelerated implementation of mature major projects, the coordinated use of existing and new fiscal funds, and the continuous improvement of corporate profitability, China’s investment growth is expected to reach 2 percent to 3 percent this year, with a trend of “initial surge followed by stabilization,” Wu Chaoming, chief economist at Chasing Financial Holdings, told Yicai.

Leading Role

Infrastructure investment will continue to play a leading role, manufacturing investment will maintain a moderate upward trend, supported by improved profitability and industrial upgrading demand, while real estate investment may continue its bottoming-out adjustment, Wu noted.

Fixed-asset investment rose 1.7 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, reversing last year’s 3.8 percent decline, according to the data from the National Bureau of Statistics. Of that, investment in projects with a planned total investment of at least CNY100 million (USD14.7 million) rose 4.5 percent, 2.8 percentage points faster than overall investment growth.

The return to growth in fixed-asset investment in the quarter was attributable to the accelerated effects of investment-stabilizing policies, new growth engines unlocked by new quality productive forces, and intensified construction of major engineering projects, Wang Changlin, vice chairman of the NDRC, told Yicai.

Following the approved of the National People's Congress, the finance ministry plans to issue CNY1.3 trillion (USD190.7 billion) in ultra-long special treasury bonds this year.

Of that, CNY800 billion will serve as low-cost centrally coordinated funds to catalyze market-oriented investment and support the construction of 1,459 key national projects. This will not only advance the construction of major infrastructure but also help boost economic growth.

To accelerate project investment, the NDRC released this year's first batch and supplementary list of key construction projects in late December and late February respectively, allocating a total of CNY389.7 billion in ultra-long special treasury bond funds to support these projects.

The ministry will auction the first batch of 2026 ultra-long special treasury bonds on April 24 in two tranches: CNY34 billion of 20-year bonds and CNY85 billion of 30-year bonds.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione