Guangzhou sets up $US 1.5bn rail development fund

THE Guangzhou Industrial Investment Fund Management (GIIFM) and some local companies have set up a Yuan 10bn ($US 1.52bn) fund to finance the development of the Chinese city’s urban rail network with an initial capital injection of about Yuan 2bn.

According to Mr Han Ying, GIIFM chairman, the fund will be used to invest in rail projects and key rail transport technologies, as well as integrate urban rail transport resources, and aid sustainable development of the industry.

“The fund will help develop the rail transport industry into a pillar industry, which is estimated to reach more than Yuan 100bn in industrial output in the near future,” Han told China Daily. “We will invest in at least 100 key projects in the upstream and downstream sector of the rail transport industry.”

The fund will help develop more than 10 listed rail transport companies with industrial output of Yuan 3-5bn. “The companies to be listed will become a major force to compete in the international rail transport industry,” Han explains.

“Guangzhou’s rail transport industry has expanded to almost all areas covering train-equipment manufacturing, communication signals, mechanical and electrical controls, automatic ticket sales, escalators and platform screen doors and engineering construction,” says Mr Ding Jianlong, chairman of Guangzhou Metro Group. An industrial alliance has been set up to facilitate local rail transport development.