CHINA BY RAIL: Renovation work on the Jiujiang Yangtze Bridge in Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province, starts on January 6. The work is a key part of the railway’s electrification project and is scheduled for completion by June 2010 (HU GUOLIN)

3G Arrives

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on January 7 issued the long-anticipated licenses for third-generation (3G) mobile phones to China Mobile Ltd., China Unicom Ltd. and China Telecom Corp. Ltd.

The government approved 3G services, as expected, for three technologies: CDMA2000 (code division multiple access) for China Telecom, WCDMA (wideband CDMA) for China Unicom and TD-SCDMA (time division-synchronized CDMA) for China Mobile.

Analysts say the 3G services will attract a large number of customers and deliver a boost to the flagging economy.

Domestic subscribers are expected to spend 280 billion yuan ($41 billion) on 3G networks and services during the next two years.

Fiscal Outline

The National Finance Conference, which convened on January 6 in Beijing, pledged more public spending this year to spur economic growth.

The Central Government will not relax its efforts to stimulate the slackening economy through increases in investments, said Minister of Finance Xie Xuren at the conference.

The spending plan not only will include infrastructure projects, but also more health and education programs as well as increased transfer payments for low-income groups, Xie said.

Because the reform and development of rural areas will be one of the government’s major tasks in 2009, it will increase its financial support for farmers, agricultural production and rural areas, he added.

Housing Revival

The government on January 6 pledged more support to meet the housing needs of low-income groups and improve its efforts to foster healthy real estate markets.

According to a press conference jointly held by the People’s Bank of China, Ministry of Finance, National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the government will double its efforts in the following five areas: building more affordable homes, boosting commercial housing consumption, providing more support for property developers, encouraging local governments to play a bigger role in stabilizing real estate markets, and strengthening the supervision of the real estate market.

Securities Joint Venture

The China Securities Regulatory Commission has approved a plan by Deutsche Bank AG to set up a joint venture with Shanxi Securities Co. Ltd. to gain access to the country’s securities market, according to a report in the Shanghai Daily.

The venture, named Zhong De Securities Co. Ltd., will underwrite yuan-backed A shares as well as government and corporate bonds on the Chinese mainland, the bank said in a statement.

Shanxi Securities will hold 66.7 percent of the venture, while Deutsche Bank will hold the remainder.

Deutsche Bank already owns a 30-percent stake in Harvest Asset Management Co. and a 13.7-percent stake in Huaxia Bank Co.

Energy Sourcing

Shenhua Group Corp., the country’s largest coal producer, has started operations on the nation’s first coal-to-liquids project in Ordos in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

The project, involving an investment of more than 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion), has an annual capacity of 1 million tons, using Shenhua’s own direct coal liquefaction technology, the company said in a statement.

Making fuel out of coal could be attractive whenever oil prices run high in China, the world second largest oil user. But the recent steep fall in crude prices has hindered the development of the sector.