How Much Infrastructure Is Too Much?

choi

Keith B Richburg, In Booming China, How Much Infrastructure Is Too Much?  Washington Post, Oct 22, 2011
http://www.washingtonpost.com/bu ... QAYWuv4L_story.html

Quote:

"The high-speed Hainan train [with hardly any passengers], built at a cost of about $3 billion and traversing just 190 miles along the island’s coast, is in many ways a metaphor for China’s infrastructure building boom of recent years — efficient, super-modern, costly and so far vastly underused * * * [the last sentence:] And the bullet train still traverses up and down the Hainan coast, pulling into one ultra-modern station after another, collecting and discharging its few lonely passengers.

"One longtime critic of the government’s infrastructure spending is Zhao Jian, an economics professor at Beijing Jiaotong University, the country’s leading transportation school. He has argued that while this developing nation needs infrastructure, it does not need the most modern and expensive infrastructure

"China is on track to soon surpass the United States in the number of highway miles built. * * * China now has about 46,000 miles of expressways — a close second to the United States — with plans to build that out to 112,500 miles by 2030. Almost all of the expressways are toll roads. But, Zhao said, the United States still has nearly four times as many cars as China. * * * 'China should build roads,' he said, 'but not expressways.' * * * Echoing his argument for highways, Zhao said, 'China should build more rail — but not high-speed rail.'

"But the cheapest high-speed train ticket costs far more than the most expensive ticket on the older, slower trains, and passenger demand for the high-speed trains has been light. On lines where slow trains have been replaced, many traveling home for the Chinese New Year holidays now prefer to travel by car or bus — clogging the highways — instead of paying the ticket prices for the bullet trains.

Supporters of China's infrastructure binge "point to the series of ring roads — the equivalent to the Capital Beltway — circling Beijing. At the time the third, fourth and firth ring roads were being constructed, they looked like a waste, with few cars. Now, most of the ring roads are jam-packed all times of the day and night.

"The main problem, say many Chinese and Western economists, is that while the spending spree has helped sustain China’s enviable growth rate over the years — and helped the country largely avoid the effects of the 2008 global economic downturn — it has also slowed China’s shift from an investment-led growth model to one sustained by consumer spending.

Note:
(a) Grand Central Terminal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Central_Terminal
(Built by and named for the New York Central Railroad in the heyday of American long-distance passenger trains, it is the largest train station in the world by number of platforms: 44, with 67 tracks along them; The terminal covers an area of 48 acres (19 ha); the current building opened in 1913)
(b) white elephant
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_elephant
(c) ZHAO Jian  赵 坚
(d) XU Xiaonian  许 小年
(e) The "funding platform" in "special funding platforms" is (地方政府) 融资平台
(f) GUO Tianyong  中央财经大学银行业研究中心主任 郭 田勇


--------------------------Separately
(1) 为解还债之急 中国四省市获准发行债券. VOA Chinese, Oct 22, 2011
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/n ... ling-132374823.html

Quote:

"有专家认为，借新债还旧债不能从根本上解决地方政府面临的偿债压力。

"中国财政部10月20日宣布，广东省、浙江省、上海市和深圳市做为地方政府自行发行债券的试点。值得注意的是，这是中国财政部17年来首次允许地方政府自行发债。* * * 茅于轼在接受美国之音采访时表示，发行债券是商业行为，收益率是决定债券是否有吸引力的硬指标。他认为，政府债利率不会高于民间借贷利率，因此在短时期内完成据称的229亿元人民币的发债额度。

"截止到2010年底，中国地方政府债务总额达到10.7万亿元人民币，约合1.7万亿美元。2011和2012年，中国地方政府集中偿还到期的债务高达4.6万亿元人民币。

(2) Barbara Demick, Chinese Toddler's Death Evokes Outpouring of Grief and Guilt. Los Angeles Times, Oct 22, 2011.
http://www.latimes.com/news/la-mobile-china-toddler-death,0,362417.story

Quote:

"The case has become the Chinese equivalent of the infamous 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese, whose neighbors overlooking a New York courtyard either heard or saw her being stabbed and didn't call the police. Although subsequent studies show that the neighbors weren't as passive as originally thought, Genovese's death inspired books, songs and movies and is still used as a case study in psychology books to examine the phenomenon of bystanders who fail to help.

"Chinese journalists have since tracked down many of the 18 people who were shown on the videotape.

Note: murder of Kitty Genovese
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kitty_Genovese
(Catherine Susan Genovese (1935-1964), commonly known as Kitty Genovese)

* Genovese (whose "v" is silent) is an inhabitant of Genoa, Italy.

(3) Paul Richter, As Libya takes stock, Moammar Kadafi's hidden riches astound: New estimates of the former leader's assets — more than $200 billion — are called 'staggering.' If they prove true, he would rank among the world's most rapacious leaders. Los Angeles Times, Oct 22, 2011
http://www.latimes.com/news/nati ... dafi-money-20111022,0,5740812.story
("so far, the UN has authorized release of only $1.5 billion from accounts in the U.S., and the Obama administration has turned over $700 million of that amount, said Marti Adams, a Treasury Department spokeswoman")

My comment: It is unclear to me the extent of wealth of Mr Kadafi. But what little the UN has sanctioned to release surprise me. Even if--again I do not know--China held a stranglehold over Libya's transitional government--by withholding UN authorization--prior to (a surmised compromise leading to) China's recognition of the insurgents, UN authorization has not come through.