China is speeding up construction on major infrastructure projects to mitigate the economic impact of the novel coronavirus epidemic.
The construction on 89.1 per cent of 11,000 key projects (those in hard-hit Hubei Province are not included) had restarted as of March 20, Ou Hong, an official with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said in a press conference on Saturday.
In breakdown, 97.8 per cent of the 533 key transportation projects supervised by the NDRC has been under construction, with all the major railway projects resuming operation, said Zheng Jian, another official with the NDRC. The construction on some 97 per cent of a major highway and waterway projects, 87 per cent of airport projects, and 86 per cent of water conservancy projects also resumed, said Ou.
The officials pledged efforts to speed up the resumption of key projects by solving the problems of labour shortage, transportation and supply of raw materials with accurate measures.
