BEIJING, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Bathed in wintry sunlight, a construction site in Anshun, a city in southwest China's Guizhou Province, hums with the roar of excavators, dump trucks, loaders and concrete pumps, while workers in safety helmets hustle back and forth, featuring a busy scene.
Over a thousand kilometers away in Dongzhi County, east China's Anhui Province, people are maximizing the prime construction season for farmland water conservancy projects by deploying heavy-duty excavators to accelerate the reinforcement of a local reservoir.
Across China, bustling construction sites and strong sales of construction machinery serve as crucial indicators of the country's economic health.
In December 2024, a total of 19,369 excavators of various types were sold, marking a year-on-year increase of 16 percent. Among them, domestic sales reached 9,312 units, up by 22.1 percent from a year ago, according to the China Construction Machinery Association.
Investment plays a crucial role in expanding domestic demand, with regions nationwide pulling out all the stops to accelerate the construction of major projects, injecting strong momentum into the sustained recovery of the economy.
In the fourth quarter of 2024, the country's construction machinery operation rate rose by 1.2 percentage points compared to the third quarter. Out of 31 provincial-level regions, 18 provinces saw an increase in the operation rate of construction machinery compared to the third quarter.
China's investment in infrastructure expanded 4.4 percent year on year in 2024, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.
"As policies designed to expand effective investment take effect, they are expected to further strengthen the resilience and intrinsic drive of investments, enhancing their role as a 'stabilizer' for economic growth," said Wei Ying, an official of the State Information Center affiliated to the National Development and Reform Commission.
China's economy expanded 5 percent year on year in 2024, with the fourth-quarter growth reaching 5.4 percent.
The investments a country makes today will determine its competitiveness tomorrow. Therefore, China has been stepping up efforts to finance projects that support major national strategies and enhance security capabilities in key areas.
In 2024, projects supported by the central budget completed investments totaling over 1.3 trillion yuan (about 180.84 billion U.S. dollars), while those backed by local government special bonds saw investments exceed 3.6 trillion yuan.
Over the past decade, capital formation in China has consistently contributed an average of more than 40 percent to the country's economic growth.
In 2025, the country will increase the issuance of ultra-long special treasury bonds and continue to support projects for implementing major national strategies and building security capacity in key areas.
"In addition to leveraging government investment effectively, China will also actively encourage private investment. Together, these efforts will tap into the potential of domestic demand and build momentum for high-quality economic growth," Wei said. ■