Blueprint of railways development
The CRCC hires 2 million migrant workers each year, 40 percent of who work for railway construction projects around the country, he says. “They are trained to master techniques like welding and driving bulldozers, and these skills help them find jobs after the railway project concludes there,” he says.
The ministry spokesman Wang Yongping says the investment next year can create 6 million jobs directly. The number does not include the 2.08 million formal employees of the railway system.
There is a saying among industrial insiders, that the scale of China’s current railway construction could rival the construction of railroads in the 19th century American West.
Wang says that these railway projects are “new highlights in the move to boost China’s economy”.
He Huawu, the Ministry of Railway’s chief engineer, says the huge investment in railways would play the same role as China’s large-scale road construction in the 1990s, which is a move that the government adopted to counter the 1998 Asian financial crisis. Media reports said an average 140 billion yuan was invested on road construction and 4,000 km of new roads were finished and opened to traffic each year in the 1990s.
The current railway projects will expand domestic demands, too, increasing the demand for steel and cement and boosting relative industries, he says.
A strong shot to the arm
Li Hong, the researcher under the NDRC comprehensive transport institute, believes that a large-scale railway construction boom can do more than expanding domestic demand.
“The construction usually lasts only one to two years for a city that the railway runs through, and its role on local economy is limited. The more significant contribution of a railway project to the local economy unfolds after its operation,” he says.
Tags: China Investment, Railway