Starting with the urban construction project in Wuhu (Anhui) in 1998, we kept increasing financing supports for “new urbanization” development projects, e.g. urban infrastructure construction and shantytown transformation, and has become the leading financing force behind China’s urbanization campaign. In 2015, in keeping with the spirit of the 18th National Congress of the Party Central Committee and the third, fourth and fifth plenary sessions of the 18th National People’s Congress, the bank actively pushed forward various initiatives based on a thorough understanding of relevant policies, and supported urbanization projects across the country taking the “new urbanization” strategy and shantytown transformation as the entry points.

(1) Facilitating new urbanization progress, and serving major regional development strategies of the state. As of the end of December 2015, CDB had granted an aggregate of RMB 9.41 trillion of urbanization related loans, and RMB 1.4 trillion was delivered in 2015 alone, accounting for 65.4% of all RMB loans granted in the year; outstanding urbanization loans amounted to RMB 5.59 trillion, accounting for 78.7% of the total.

(2) Supporting shantytown transformation focusing on shantytowns in urban areas and “villages within cities”. As of the end of December 2015, CDB granted an aggregate of RMB 1555 brillion of shantytown loans, of which RMB 750.9 billion was granted within the year, contributing greatly to the early completion of 5.8 million shantytown transformation units across the country. RMB 236.7 billion were granted for monetized resettlement, resulting in a reduction of about100 million square meters of existing commercial housing properties nationwide. Priority was given to shantytown transformation projects in coal mining subsidence areas, state-owned mines, forests, reclamation areas, resource-exhausted cities and areas with a high concentration of tier-3 enterprises in central, western and northeastern regions, with RMB19.4 billion of loans granted to shantytown transformation projects in mining subsidence areas in the Northeast. As a result, construction of all shantytown transformation projects in mining subsidence areas in Heilongjiang’s “four coal mining cities” commenced on schedule.

(3) Strengthening infrastructure construction, and optimizing urban layout. As of the end of December 2015, outstanding urban construction loans granted by CDB totaled RMB 1,123.94 billion (of which RMB 859.9 billion was outstanding infrastructure construction loans), and urban infrastructure construction loans of RMB 107.7 billion were granted in full-year 2015. The Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement on Jointly Pushing Forward Urban Underground Utility Tunnel Construction was signed with MHURD, with RMB 27.1 billion of loans granted in support of construction of underground utility tunnels in urban areas.

(4) Pushing forward construction projects in pilot cities by innovating existing investment and financing models. With new urbanization pilots in Anhui, Liaoning and Suzhou identified as the top priorities, experiments were conducted in terms of financing plan compilation, multiple financier introduction and fund utilization model and financial production innovations to increase funding sources for new urbanization development and prevent fiscal and financial risks. Furthermore, active endeavors were made to promote market-oriented financing platform transformation and financing models such as PPP and government procurement of public services, and financing support has been pledged for a group of urban underground utility tunnel construction projects in Baoshan (Yunnan), Zhengding New Town (Shijiazhuang) and nine cities (prefectures) in Jilin province through PPP and mechanism assessment.

(5) Facilitating policy implementation based on thorough studies of relevant policies. CDB was actively involved in the initial preparation and formulation of national policies including the National New Urbanization Plan (2014-2020), Guiding Opinions of the General Office of the State Council to Push Forward Urban Underground Utility Tunnel Construction (Guo Ban Fa [2015] No. 61), Guiding Opinions of the General Office of the State Council to Promote the Development of Sponge Cities (Guo Ban Fa [2015] No. 75) and the Guiding Opinions Concerning Parking Facility Construction in Urban Areas (Fa Gai Ji Chu [2015] No. 1788). The Notice on Distributing the Cooperation Agreement to Support the Transformation, Upgrade and Innovation-driven Development of National Economic and Technological Development Zones was jointly issued with the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) to ensure result-oriented transformation, upgrade and innovation-driven development of national economic and technological development zones.