The Global Think Tank Forum on Energy Security 2015 was held in Beijing on Monday. Experts estimate that the construction of infrastructure projects for the "Belt and Road" initiative is accelerating with an investment initially estimated to reach 6 trillion U.S. dollars, according to a report released by a research team from Chinese Academy of Social Sciences(CASS) in the forum.

China's province-level governments are issuing action plans for advancing the Belt and Road Initiatives

For the time being, China has completed a draft plan for the construction of an economic corridor linking China, Mongolia and Russia, said Xia Yishan, a researcher at China Institute of International Studies. He added that this economic corridor with a focus on infrastructure projects will play a critical role in building the Silk Road economic belt.

China's 34 province-level governments should draw up implementation plans for advancing the Belt and Road Initiative by October 2015, according to the State Council of China. Guangdong provincial government issued a plan with an investment of 55.4 billion U.S. dollars on 68 prioritized projects.

The local governments of Shaanxi, Jiangxi, Fujian, Sichuan and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and other places have also submitted their action plans to the State Council of China.

Cooperation in energy fields has become one of the hot spots

Energy cooperation has become one of the focuses of six economic corridor and provincial action plans for promoting the Belt and Road Initiative. Northeast Asia can promote key projects such as building the natural gas network linking China's northeast region, the Bohai Bay Rim area and Russia's far east region and certain areas of Mongolia, promoting the interconnection of China's power supply networks with Mongolia's networks and Russia's networks, according to the report released by the research team.

Line D of the China-Central Asia natural gas pipeline, the China-Pakistan economic corridor, and long-distance transmission of electric power in central Asia and west Asia are among the key projects for cooperation, the report revealed, adding that four transmission lines will be built and upgraded to promote the connectivity of power grids between China and ASEAN.

Diversify financing channels 

The report says that the investment on the projects for Belt and Road Initiatives might be likely to reach 6 trillion U.S. dollars. The reporter with Economic Information Daily get information that to date, the sources of funding for these projects include China's policy banks, the Interbank Consortium under Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Silk Road Fund, Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Mechanism and private capital.

China Development Bank has built a project database which stores information on more than 900 projects with an investment likely to hit more than 89 billion U.S. dollars, explained Li Jiping, vice president of China Development Bank. He added that 22 projects have been implemented.

Private capital, Silk Road Bonds and innovative financial products should be utilized to build projects for the Belt and Road Initiatives, say experts.