Shenzhen: Supporting Private Capital Participation in Railway, Nuclear Power and Other Projects with Certain Returns

People’s Financial News, March 24 — On March 23, the Shenzhen Development and Reform Commission released the “Work Plan for Optimizing the Market-Oriented Business Environment in Shenzhen by 2026.” The plan proposes expanding the private investment sector. It calls for establishing and implementing new mechanisms for government and social capital cooperation, continuously promoting major projects to private capital. Support will be given to private capital participating in the construction of projects in fields such as railways with certain returns, nuclear power, hydropower, cross-provincial and cross-regional direct current transmission channels, oil and gas pipelines, import liquefied natural gas reception and storage facilities, and water supply. For eligible projects, private capital shareholding can exceed 10%. The plan also aims to further increase government procurement support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). For engineering procurement projects exceeding 4 million yuan, where SMEs are suitable providers, the proportion of procurement reserved for SMEs will be expanded beyond the current 40% of the total project budget. Procurement units are encouraged to increase the prepayment ratio for private enterprise contracts to more than 30% of the contract amount.