China launches $16b subway transportation fund

SHANGHAI - Chinese real estate giant Greenland Holding Group, together with China Construction Bank and a number of partners, jointly set up a 100 billion yuan ($16.3 billion) subway transportation fund on Tuesday to support the construction of transit lines in Chinese cities.

The fund will spur rail traffic investment of up to 300 billion yuan, said Zhang Yuliang, chairman of Greenland.

The number of Chinese cities with subways is expected to reach 50 by 2020 with total mileage of 6,000 kilometers, according to Greenland.

The fund's initial deployment will be 24 billion yuan. The Shanghai-based Greenland said it is mainly responsible for recommending suitable projects for the fund to invest in.

Greenland added that it is an example of the public-private partnership (PPP) model. The Chinese government has been calling for greater use of the PPP model, in which a service or project is funded and operated through a partnership between the government and private sector.

China is increasingly turning to PPPs to bridge a huge financing shortfall in infrastructure.