Major projects expedite construction following holiday

BEIJING, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- While many people are still rejoicing in the family reunion during the Spring Festival, an array of major projects across the country have resumed construction.

Earlier on Saturday, machinery started roaring on a construction site of the Yulongdao refining and chemical project, undertaken by China Construction Industrial &Energy Engineering Group Co., Ltd., in Yantai, a coastal city of north China's Shandong Province.

"More than 420 workers have returned to their positions on the first working day after the Spring Festival holiday. Around 1,100 people will come back to work within a week," said Sheng Haitao, the project manager.

Sheng said that the project is a key one to promote the industrial upgrading of the province, and they will build 20 crude oil storage tanks, 12 refined oil storage tanks, and pipelines.

With an investment of over 120 billion yuan (about 17.78 billion U.S. dollars), the project is scheduled to be completed by June.

A corn deep-processing project in Shandong's Zhucheng City has also sped up construction after the holiday. The project was launched less than three months ago, and a 20-tonne storage and logistics workshop has been built. The project is expected to bring annual operating revenue of 10.6 billion yuan after being put into operation, vigorously driving the development of upstream and downstream enterprises.

Shandong has made public that the number of major projects in infrastructure, energy, manufacturing, and other key sectors on the 2023 list has exceeded 500.

Construction workers in the Yubei District of southwest China's Chongqing Municipality are busy embedding pipes and pouring concrete for a new plant construction project of Chinese automaker Changan Automobile.

Wu Kezhi, the project director, said that a total of 6.3 billion yuan will be invested into the project, which is able to produce 280,000 new energy vehicles every year.

"Construction of the 400,000-square-meter modern factory only needs ten months due to the support of the local government and the upgrading of building equipment. More than 200 people still worked during the holiday, and the number of returning workers has reached over 300," Wu added.

Chongqing plans to implement more than 1,100 major projects this year, with a total investment of 3 trillion yuan.

To promote enterprises' production and accelerate the construction of projects, as well as improve government services, Chongqing has sent cadres to major enterprises and projects, in an effort to strengthen communication to advance the projects.

In Shenzhen, a manufacturing and tech hub in southern China, a total of 266 new projects for 2023 were launched on Sunday, with a total investment of 329.53 billion yuan.

Among the projects, 20 are expected to pool more than 5 billion yuan of investment each, covering fields of information technology, intelligent cars, new energy, new materials, and artificial intelligence.

The projects also include 70 projects related to people's livelihood, such as a children's hospital complex building and a cultural and sports project.