Construction is commencing for two major projects: the third line of West-East Natural Gas Transmission Project and the railway from West Mongolia to Central China. According to local reporting, private capital will account for 46.7 billion yuan out of the 300 billion yuan investments. And the start of operations on the two projects signifies the cracking of monopolies.

The railway from West Monglia to Central China is one of the major projects in the Twelfth Five-Year Plan. The Ministry of Railways will only account for 20 percent of the 170 billion yuan investment, local government and other companies investing the other 80 percent, among which private capital will account for 15.7 percent of the whole project.

According to a reporter with Economic Information Daily, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) helped some private companies to get involved with the project. The commission filed a document to order private companies including Shenhua Group, China Coal Energy Group, State Development & Investment Co., Shanxi Coal Chemical Industry Co., Huainan Mining Group and Yitai Group to join in the construction.

Ownership structure had been in dispute for a long time, equity of the Ministry of Railway was 50 percent, then reduced to 30 percent, and finally to 20 percent. Wang Mengshu, a member of Chinese Academy of Engineering said, “The ministry is also lack of money, they are reluctant to give up controlling stake in the coal line."

Another big project, the third line of West-East Natural Gas Transmission Project, received 16 percent of its investment from the Urban Infrastructure Investment Fund.

Lio Yongyuan, vice president of China National Petroleum Co. said that the mode of private capital investment will be applied in the fourth and fifth lines of the West-East Natural Gas Transmission Project.

Some experts say that though the state has provided profitable projects for the private capital firms, the important thing is to build up long-term mechanisms for private capital to be brought in and out of these projects.