Pushing a Paradox.docVIP

Pushing a Paradox 　　Following the leaderships pledge during the Third Plenum of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in late 2013 to allow market forces to play a “dominant” role in the economy， Chinas central government has been advocating its so-called PPP ， or publicprivate partnership， model for infrastructure and public utilities construction. 　　In November 2014， the Ministry of Finance （MOF） rolled out 30 “model” PPP projects for public tender with investments totaling 180 billion yuan （US$28.3bn）. Then， in May， the National Development and Reform Commission （NDRC） released a list of an additional 1，043 PPP projects worth some 1.97 trillion yuan（US$317.75bn）. More recently， on September 29， the MOF released details of another 206 PPP projects worth a further 658.9 billion yuan （US$105.3bn）. 　　As the government has advocated the PPP model at the national level， local governments have also been mobilized as early adopters. It is estimated that 1，860 PPP projects worth some 3.5 trillion yuan （US$551.7bn） have been advertised by central and local governments in the past year， ranging from expressway and hospital construction to water conservation projects. 　　Proponents of the PPP model argue that if the initiative can be successfully implemented， it will serve multiple goals by boosting growth， reducing Chinas high levels of local government debt and promoting a more modern system of governance， all of which are key aims of the central government. 　　 Lack of Enthusiasm 　　However， compared to an outpouring of enthusiasm at the official level， the reaction from China’s private sector has been lukewarm. 　　According to a survey conducted by Minsheng Securities， of the 1.6 trillion yuan（US$251bn） worth of PPP projects covered by the survey， only 210 billion yuan（US$33bn） worth have contracts in place. Of these contracted companies， most are Stateowned enterprises （SOEs）， under the direct administration of central government agencies. Accordi