Since the beginning of this year, major projects have been progressing continuously and project funds have been implemented at a faster pace. Infrastructure investment increased by 5.8% in the first quarter, 1.4 percentage points faster than the whole year of the previous year. Recently, major provincial projects at Zhejiang, Hubei and other places have been started in the second quarter. From the perspective of project investment, industrial projects are given priority and new quality productivity are given priority. Industry experts said that as the second quarter begins, with the gradual acceleration of project construction and the issuance of new special bonds, investment is expected to be further accelerated.

  Recently, major projects in Zhejiang Province were started in the second quarter of 2025, with a total investment of 54 major projects participating in the start-up activities reaching 228.1 billion yuan, including the Hangzhou Changlong International Aviation Remanufacturing Center project, Ningbo Rongxin 12-inch integrated circuit chip production line project, Huzhou New Energy Vehicle Key Components Intelligent Manufacturing Center project, etc. According to reports, the projects started in the second quarter highlighted the leadership of science and technology innovation, including 35 industrial projects, accounting for 65% of the number of projects started this time.

  "The total investment of Changlong International Aviation Remanufacturing Center project is 5 billion yuan. It is planned to complete an investment of 3.5 billion yuan in the first three years. It will build a global one-stop aviation maintenance demonstration base with annual maintenance of 300 engines and an annual output value of over 12 billion yuan. After completion, it will fill the capacity gap in the domestic deep maintenance field of aviation engines." The relevant person in charge of the project introduced.

  In addition to Zhejiang, the construction of major projects in Hubei, Qinghai and other places in the second quarter also started a "starting gun". Among the major projects that were started in Hubei Province in the second quarter, 2,047 new projects with a total construction of more than 100 million yuan were started. From the perspective of investment field, there are 1,437 industrial projects, accounting for 63.1% of investment; there are 315 infrastructure projects, accounting for 21.8%.

  Large projects are an important driving force for expanding effective investment. From January to February this year, the planned total investment in projects with a total investment of RMB 100 million or above increased by 7.7% year-on-year, driving the growth of all investment by 4.0 percentage points. According to the latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, in the first quarter, national fixed asset investment (excluding farmers) was 10317.4 billion yuan, an increase of 4.2% year-on-year, an acceleration of 1.0 percentage points over the whole year of the previous year.

  "Since the beginning of this year, the issuance of new local special bonds has accelerated, which has driven the improvement of funds in place and the promotion of projects." Sheng Laiyun, deputy director of the National Bureau of Statistics, said that in the first quarter, the cumulative issuance of new special bonds was close to 1 trillion yuan, and the actual funds in place for fixed asset investment this year increased by 3.7% year-on-year. Infrastructure investment grew by 5.8%, 1.4 percentage points faster than the whole year of the previous year. Among them, driven by the "two-fold" policy, especially large-scale equipment renewal policies, investment in equipment and tools purchases increased by 19% year-on-year in the first quarter, accelerating by 3.3 percentage points over the whole year of last year, and the contribution rate to the growth of all investment was 64.6%, effectively driving investment.

  Experts said that at present, facing the complex international environment, investment is still the "main force" of my country's economy. Entering the second quarter, with the acceleration of project construction and funds, investment is expected to be further accelerated.

  The reporter noticed that while local bond issuance is also increasing, while local bond issuance is currently being promoted. At present, more than 20 issuing entities have disclosed their plans for the issuance of local government bonds in the second quarter. A research report by Cathay Haitong shows that according to the second quarter issuance plan disclosed by various provinces, the total scale of the disclosed local bond issuance plan is 2.67 trillion yuan, and local bonds may usher in a supply peak in the second quarter.

  Wang Qing, chief macro analyst of Oriental Financial, said that infrastructure investment increased by 5.8% year-on-year in the first quarter, which was due to the early efforts of the policy of stabilizing growth at the beginning of the year, and the scale of local government bond issuance has expanded significantly. "The US provoked a global trade war this time, which will have a strong impact on the global industrial chain and supply chain, causing an overall slowdown in foreign demand. Focusing on stabilizing the macroeconomic operation and alleviating the sudden increase in external shocks, it is now necessary to push forward in time, which will undoubtedly accelerate the pace of domestic macroeconomic hedging. We expect infrastructure investment to accelerate in April."

  Ma Hong, a senior researcher at the Chief Industrial Research Institute of Guangkai, also said that due to factors such as slowing foreign demand and trade protectionism, the investment prospects of some traditional labor-intensive manufacturing industries are facing challenges. However, it is expected that fiscal and monetary policies will increase financial guarantees in key support areas and promote the development of new quality productivity. Investment in high-tech manufacturing is expected to maintain accelerated growth and make greater contributions to the transformation and development of the manufacturing structure. It is expected that by the end of the second quarter, the growth rate of infrastructure investment is expected to continue to expand compared with the end of the first quarter.

  "Relying on the national major construction project database, the government will increase its investment in key areas of projects, increase the utilization rate of project funds re-lending, and promote the effective growth of infrastructure investment scale. The issuance and implementation of local government special bonds will also help improve local financial resources. Local governments will have the ability to continuously expand investment scale in the construction of modern electronic information infrastructure such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things to support local economic development." Ma Hong said. (Reporter Wang Zixu)

[Editor in charge: Wang Mengmeng]