Beijing seeks investors in growing metro
METRO projects in the Chinese capital, Beijing, are leading a reform programme for franchising and investing in infrastructure construction. An historic step was taken in December 2004 when the Municipal Construction Committee announced the offer to non-governmental investors of a 30-year operating franchise for Line 4.Public bidding for lines 5 and 10 got underway last month. The government will transfer the right to manage these lines to the winners for a 20-year operating concession as soon as they are completed in 2007 and 2008 respectively. Total investment for lines 4, 5, and 10 is about $US 4.8 billion.
Two joint ventures are bidding for the Line 4 concession–Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway Corporation with Beijing Infrastructure Investment, and Beijing Capital Group; and Siemens with China Railway Construction Corporation and Beijing Metro Corporation. The winner will also have to pay about Yuan 5 billion ($US 604.1 million), which represents about one-third of the construction costs for the line.
Mr Wang Qi, general manager of the Beijing Municipal Infrastructure Investment Company, added that the municipal government was considering extending the franchise concept to other new lines in the future. The city plans a 350km metro network by 2015.