The first quarter is drawing to a close. The central and local governments are speeding up the progress. A number of projects in key areas such as energy, transportation and water conservancy have been started intensively, and the renewal and reconstruction of Urban Aging gas and other pipe networks have also been stepped up. At the same time, the project construction funds are accelerated, and the amount of special bonds approved in advance is 1.46 trillion yuan, which is expected to be basically issued in the first quarter. The analysis pointed out that the growth rate of infrastructure investment in March will still be at a high level, and the growth rate is expected to reach about 10% in the first quarter. On March 17, Zhejiang Taishun and Jiangxi Fengxin pumped storage power station projects with a total investment of 14.773 billion yuan started construction, which is the first batch of pumped storage power stations started construction by the State Grid Corporation of China this year. The relevant person in charge of the State Grid told the reporter of the economic information daily that according to the investment estimation, the construction of pumped storage power stations in Taishun, Zhejiang and Fengxin, Jiangxi can improve the local transportation and living infrastructure, drive the development of investment and related industries, drive the local GDP to exceed 30 billion yuan, increase the local fiscal revenue by about 120 million yuan on average every year, and provide more than 8000 jobs; During the operation period, the local fiscal revenue can be steadily increased by about 220 million yuan every year, and the economic and social benefits are very significant. This is not an example. Recently, many places across the country have focused on major projects, made full use of infrastructure investment, and spared no effort to sprint for the "good start" of the economy in the first quarter. On March 15, the first batch of major infrastructure and traffic congestion relief projects in Yinchuan, Ningxia in 2022 were started, with a total of 98 projects and a total investment of 12.1 billion yuan. The city plans to implement 157 infrastructure projects with a total investment of 21 billion yuan. On the same day, key projects in the starting area of new and old kinetic energy conversion in Jinan, Shandong were also started in the spring of 2022. The total investment of 20 key projects was about 45.5 billion yuan, and the annual investment was about 15.5 billion yuan. "At present, China's economic development is facing the triple pressure of shrinking demand, supply shock and weakening expectation. The necessity of steady growth of infrastructure is increasing." Luo Zhiheng, chief economist of YueKai securities, told the reporter of economic information daily. In fact, since the beginning of this year, China's infrastructure investment has accelerated the recovery, and the effect of stabilizing growth has been shown. According to the data recently released by the National Bureau of statistics, from January to February, infrastructure investment increased by 8.1%, accelerating by 7.7 percentage points. Among them, the investment in water conservancy management industry increased by 22.5%, and the investment in road transportation industry increased by 8.2%. High infrastructure investment is inseparable from the forward force of a series of stable growth policies. Fu Linghui, director of the comprehensive Department of the National Bureau of statistics, introduced that investment projects increased rapidly, which strongly supported investment growth. From January to February, the number of new projects invested increased by 1.1 times year-on-year, and the total planned investment of new projects increased by 62.8%. At the same time, the issuance of special bonds of local governments has been significantly accelerated, and the guarantee of investment factors has been strengthened. "The amount of special bonds approved in advance is expected to be 1.46 trillion yuan, which is expected to be basically issued in the first quarter, and the availability of funds can promote the implementation of reserve projects as soon as possible. A total of 875.5 billion yuan of new special bonds were issued from January to February, and it is expected that the issuance in March will be about 600 billion yuan. With the carry over of special bond funds issued and unused last year, the funds in the first quarter are relatively abundant." Luo Zhiheng said. The industry pointed out that in the next step, with the continuous implementation of relevant policies, infrastructure investment is expected to accelerate faster than expected and open up more investment space. According to this year's government work report, water conservancy, transportation and energy are still the main beams, mainly key water conservancy projects, comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network, important energy bases and facilities. The Ministry of transport proposed to expand effective investment in transportation and focus on the construction of comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network in many places. For example, the recently released planning outline of comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network in Jiangsu Province proposes to basically build a convenient, smooth, cost-effective, low-carbon intensive, intelligent, safe and reliable modern high-quality comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network by 2035. Jiangsu Provincial Department of transportation has determined this year as the "key year for major projects" in the field of transportation in Jiangsu Province, ensuring the completion of an investment of 180.9 billion yuan. In the context of ensuring supply and price stability, the construction of important energy bases and facilities is very important. This year, we will accelerate the construction of government dispatchable coal reserve capacity of more than 200 million tons, add more than 5 billion cubic meters of gas storage facilities, and promote the national emergency standby and peak shaving power supply to more than 300 million kilowatts. Accelerating the renovation of urban gas pipelines, water supply and drainage pipelines and other pipe networks, improving flood control and drainage facilities, and continuing to promote the construction of underground comprehensive pipe corridors will also become the focus of stable investment this year. According to the news from the national development and Reform Commission on March 17, the newly issued key tasks for the development of new urbanization and urban-rural integration in 2022 proposed to start the renewal and transformation of Urban Aging gas and other pipelines and improve flood control and drainage facilities. We will accelerate the transformation of old urban communities and strive to improve the basic living conditions of 8.4 million households. More market-oriented methods will be adopted to promote the transformation of old factories in big cities, and a number of large old blocks and villages in cities will be transformed according to local conditions. Many institutions predict that under the influence of various favorable factors, infrastructure investment in 2022 is expected to form a strong support for the economy in the first quarter and even the whole year. The growth rate of infrastructure investment in the first quarter is expected to reach about 10%. "From the high-frequency data of some infrastructure projects we have observed at present, the growth rate of infrastructure investment in the next stage will still be high." Liang Zhonghua, Macro Analyst of Haitong Securities, said that on the one hand, investment funds are in place quickly and the proportion of investment in infrastructure is high; On the other hand, the orders and expected indicators of infrastructure related industries are at a high level, indicating that enterprises are still optimistic about the next stage. "Since the beginning of this year, local key projects have been speeding up the progress, and some personnel have been added to celebrate the new year on the spot, so the construction process has been further accelerated." Luo Zhiheng said that it is expected that the growth rate of infrastructure investment in the first quarter of 2022 is expected to reach about 10%, and from the perspective of the whole year, the growth rate of infrastructure investment will show a trend of high before low. "Accelerating infrastructure investment is an important measure for counter cyclical and cross cyclical adjustment based on the current situation." Luo Zhiheng said that infrastructure investment, as an important force for steady growth, can not only achieve rapid results and stabilize the total demand, but also optimize the supply structure, improve the efficiency of economic operation, and save more potential for the economy to achieve steady progress. (Xinhua News Agency)