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Beijing: Investment Slows
Investment in Beijing decreased in May for the first time since 1990, according to the Beijing Municipal Statistics Bureau.
Investment in the capital dropped by 1.2 per cent in May compared with a year ago.
Experts attributed the drop to inefficient infrastructure construction projects and delayed delivery of pledged capital.
According to the bureau, of the 50 key construction projects approved by the municipal government early this year, only 26 have been started.
Planning and design work on the other projects is proceeding relatively slowly, including the No 5 and 8 subway lines and the Tenth Water Plant.
Shortage of capital has led to the postponement of a few key projects. The construction of the Beijing-Kaiyuan expressway was about two months behind schedule because of a 90 million yuan (US$10.84 million) shortage.
Statistics indicated that the municipal government has pledged to invest 35.02 billion yuan (US$4.22 billion) in 2000, but only 5.13 billion yuan (US$618 million), or 14.6 percent of the total, has actually been given during the first five months of the year.
On a brighter note, because of rapid development of the industrial sector and a significant increase in the market demand, the capital's gross national product reached 82.9 billion yuan (US$9.99 billion) from January to May, 12 per cent higher than the same period last year.
At the same time, the industrial added-value reached 26.35 billion yuan (US$3.17 billion), up 18.8 percent compared with last year. High-tech enterprises accounted for 59.7 percent of the total value.
Some experts attribute the growth of demand to the long May Day holiday and the hot real estate market.
A Beijing Municipal Statistics Bureau survey indicated that 40.9 percent of the city's households took trips outside Beijing during the holiday, which made tourism spending in May 2.2 times the monthly average.
Through the end of May, 1.62 million square meters of real estate was sold in Beijing for 6.48 billion yuan (US$780.7 million).
Compared with the same period last year, the growth rate of real estate sales volume was 120 percent. The bureau also said sales of real estate to individuals accounted for 84 per cent of the city's property market.
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