Speeding up railway construction plays a significant role in stabilizing growth, economic restructuring and improving people’s lives, which meets both present and long-term interests, Premier Li Keqiang said in an instruction sent to a railway construction meeting held in Chongqing on April 11.

Vice-Premier Ma Ka attended the meeting.

The railway is the main artery of the national economy and the key infrastructure, the premier said.

He urged the continued strengthening of the construction of important railway projects in central and western China. China also needs to break its bottlenecks in railway construction and ensure the implementation of related funding arrangements, the Premier said.

He also said the country needs to innovate its financing mechanism through deepening reform so as to make bigger strides in absorbing social capital.

China Railway Construction Corporation should shoulder its major responsibility, improve quality, increase safety and enhance operation management, Li said.

He called on local authorities to carefully perform their duties, enhance coordination and provide mutual support concerning project approval and land acquisition and relocation. These steps will ensure that railway construction tasks for this year will be accomplished and inject new impetus in economic development.

Vice-Premier Ma Kai stressed that the premier’s instruction must be strictly implemented.

“Fully realizing the importance, difficulty and complexity in speeding up railway construction will help us increase our efforts, quicken our work pace and achieve the goal of building over 8,000 km railways through investing over 800 billion yuan this year,” Ma said.

The vice-premier said that this year’ target concerning railway construction is relatively the same as last year’s.

However, with awareness of the mounting challenges and difficulties in its progress, Ma called for more vigorous and effective measures to tackle these difficulties. These include better organizing and managing major projects in construction, ensuring the smooth operation of newly completed projects, pushing forward preparative work for new projects and stressing the quality of railway projects as well as work safety.

Ma said that accelerating railway construction is the shared duty of China’s railway system, local governments and related ministries.

All parties involved should diligently perform their duties with active contribution and close cooperation during the process, and further enhance their productivity, he said.

He called for deepening reforms concerning the investment and financing for railway construction, and to raise construction funds from varied channels.

Ma also asked to properly deal with problems regarding demolition, push forward the comprehensive development of railway land, better implement related guaranteeing measures and forge an integrated force to speed up railway construction.