During the Mid-Autumn Festival, at the construction site of the Xu-Xin Expressway project—undertaken by China Construction Seventh Bureau General Contracting Company in Linying County, Luohe City, Henan Province—workers are diligently and efficiently carrying out their tasks, creating a vibrant and bustling construction scene. “Right now is the prime period for construction,” said Wang Haoran, a formwork worker. “To ensure we complete the project on time and pass the acceptance inspection next year, everyone is working nonstop.”

　　During the peak construction season of "Golden September and Silver October," major project construction is in full swing across many regions, with multiple sources of funding being rapidly deployed and numerous central state-owned enterprises in the construction sector enjoying robust order books. Industry insiders believe that with a sufficient pipeline of infrastructure projects and guaranteed financial support, the implementation of these projects is poised to improve. As policies aimed at stabilizing the economy continue to be rolled out at an accelerated pace, infrastructure investment growth is expected to remain strong this year.

　　 Construction of major projects is in full swing.  

　　Recently, major project construction in many regions is in full swing.

　　In Ningxia, on September 9, the groundbreaking ceremony was held for the 3GW new-energy base photovoltaic integrated project in the Tengger Desert—the country’s largest desert-based photovoltaic power plant. As a key supporting project for the “Ningxia Power to Hunan” initiative, this project has a total installed capacity of 3 million kilowatts and a total investment of 15.25 billion yuan. In Hainan, on September 9, Haikou City hosted the third batch of major projects for 2022, with a total of 30 projects commencing construction simultaneously. The total investment for these projects amounts to 17.39 billion yuan, and the planned investment for this year is 3.05 billion yuan. In Shandong, Weihai City held a集中开工 event for industrial projects in the third quarter. On September 9, 17 projects—including Fengrun Machinery in Linhai District and Jinda RV—began construction simultaneously, with a total investment of 2.33 billion yuan. These projects cover fields such as high-end equipment manufacturing, new materials, and biopharmaceuticals. In Anhui, on September 8, Bowang District of Ma'anshan City held a集中开工 ceremony for key projects under the “Bowang Decade” initiative. A total of 19 key projects were launched simultaneously, with a total investment of 10.36 billion yuan.

　　In addition, cities including Hangzhou, Nanchang, Tangshan, Shanghai, and Xi'an have recently announced the launch of a batch of major infrastructure projects, seizing the golden period for construction and going all out to accelerate progress. According to big data statistics from Jijiantong, from August 16 to August 31, there were 28 major infrastructure projects initiated nationwide, with a total investment of 386.2 billion yuan. These projects cover areas such as highways, subways, water conservancy, urban development, and industrial parks; among them, four projects each have a total investment exceeding 40 billion yuan.

　　Cai Yanfen, a senior analyst at Bai Nian Jian Zhu Wang, said that as the intense heat gradually subsides, project schedules—which had been passively shortened earlier—are returning to normal. As a result, there’s a rush to meet deadlines on key livelihood projects across various regions, particularly with municipal projects starting up one after another, which is boosting demand for infrastructure construction. Additionally, once the heat has eased, progress on ongoing projects has picked up compared to earlier periods.

　　“The rush to accelerate infrastructure projects is expected to boost industry sentiment, and the traditional peak construction season of ‘Golden September and Silver October’ is likely to see even stronger performance,” said Ren Feifei, Chief Analyst for Construction & Building Materials at Cinda Securities. She noted that steady investment policies continue to gain momentum, with localities actively promoting the commencement of major projects under initiatives such as “Two New, One Heavy,” resulting in rapid growth both in the number of newly started projects and in total planned investment.

　　 Multiple sources of funding are accelerating disbursement.  

　　Multiple sources of funding are accelerating their deployment to support the construction of major projects.

　　On the one hand, policy-based development finance instruments—often referred to as “quasi-fiscal” tools—are continuing to expand in scale, further ensuring the capital adequacy of major projects. At the State Council Executive Meeting held on August 24, it was explicitly stated that, building on the 300 billion yuan in policy-based development finance tools already allocated to specific projects, an additional amount of over 300 billion yuan will be added. Recently, Liu Guoqiang, Deputy Governor of the People's Bank of China, indicated that the first batch of operational financial tools—totaling 300 billion yuan—that the PBC has set up to support the National Development Bank and the Agricultural Development Bank in supplementing the capital of major projects were fully deployed by August 26, providing support for more than 900 major projects.

　　Along with the expansion of credit quotas, the scope of support provided by policy-based and development-oriented financial instruments has been further broadened. At the State Council Executive Meeting held on August 31, it was proposed to include the renovation of old residential communities and provincial expressways within the scope of support under these policy-based and development-oriented financial instruments. Additionally, projects that commenced construction in the first half of the year will be newly added to the supported categories, and projects previously eligible but not yet funded due to quota limitations will automatically be included in the support program, thereby generating more tangible work volume in the third quarter.

　　On the other hand, the allocation of special bond funds is clearly defined. At the State Council Executive Meeting held on September 7, it was pointed out that, in accordance with the law, the unused special bond quotas accumulated since 2019—exceeding 500 billion yuan—will be activated and utilized. Of this amount, 70% will remain with local governments, while 30% will be centrally allocated by the central finance and tilted toward regions with a greater number of mature projects. Local governments are required to complete issuance by the end of October, giving priority to supporting ongoing projects and ensuring that more tangible work is completed within the year.

　　Regarding the key areas of focus for the special bond quota exceeding 500 billion yuan, Ou Wenhuan, Assistant Minister of Finance, recently stated that the remaining special bond quota of over 500 billion yuan will be primarily allocated to support transportation infrastructure, energy, agriculture, forestry and water conservancy, ecological and environmental protection, social undertakings, cold-chain logistics infrastructure in urban and rural areas, municipal and industrial park infrastructure, major national strategic projects, affordable housing projects, as well as new energy projects and new infrastructure construction.

　　“The two additional measures—increasing the quota for policy-based and development-oriented financial instruments and making good use of the remaining limits on special-purpose bonds in accordance with the law—could help close a funding gap of one trillion yuan and accelerate the launch and commencement of major projects,” said Gao Ruidong, Chief Macro Economist at Everbright Securities. Under the influence of these additional measures, he expects broad fiscal expansion to continue into the fourth quarter, supporting infrastructure investment growth at a relatively high level.

　　 Infrastructure investment growth is expected to remain strong.  

　　Against the backdrop of stepped-up efforts to stabilize investment, central state-owned enterprises in the infrastructure sector are enjoying a robust order book.

　　According to the latest report released by Guosheng Securities, in the first half of the year, the five major state-owned construction enterprises (China Construction, China Railway Group, China Railway Construction Corporation, China Communications Construction Company, and China Power Construction Corporation) signed new infrastructure-related contracts worth 3.9 trillion yuan, representing a year-on-year increase of 26.4%. Over the past three years, their average growth rate has been 23.2%, significantly higher than the overall growth rate of infrastructure investment, indicating a relatively abundant order book.

　　Sufficient order volumes will help boost industry performance. Yuan Hao, a researcher at Shenwan Hongyuan Securities, noted that with the continued rollout of policies aimed at steady growth, infrastructure projects are expected to accelerate their implementation. Coupled with companies’ efforts to strengthen internal controls and continuously improve operational quality, both revenue and profitability in the construction sector are poised for strong performance this year. Su Duoyong, an analyst at Anxin Securities, believes that orders for state-owned central enterprises in infrastructure and leading local infrastructure firms are growing rapidly, making the full-year earnings outlook highly promising. The construction sector is expected to maintain rapid growth in both revenue and profitability throughout the year.

　　Xiong Yuan, chief economist at Guosheng Securities, said that currently there is a backlog of infrastructure projects and guaranteed funding support, which should help improve the implementation of these projects. As a result, infrastructure investment growth in the second half of the year is expected to remain high or even reach new highs. It is projected that this year’s total infrastructure investment growth—measured across all relevant categories—will exceed 10%.