The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled three major strategies to promote the government’s Trillion NT Dollar Investment National Development Plan, aiming to encourage private funds to invest in public infrastructure projects, including airports and mass rapid transport systems.
The plan was introduced by the Executive Yuan’s Economic Development Committee earlier this week, highlighting the government’s commitment to injecting momentum into the country’s economy while addressing regional development imbalances.
To achieve the goal, the NDC would establish a mechanism to promote the private sector’s innovative participation in infrastructure projects, then optimize investment and financing conditions for public construction and increase financial products related to public construction projects, it said in a report submitted to the Executive Yuan.
Photo courtesy of Executive Yuan
Regarding the mechanism for promoting innovative participation in public infrastructure, the council said it would set up a special task force to allow the government and the private sector to jointly propose infrastructure projects.
The task force would facilitate cross-ministry coordination and communication; take feedback from representatives of the private sector, experts and academics; and promote deregulation, it said.
As for optimizing investment and financing conditions for public construction projects, the council said that the risk coefficient applicable to insurance firms that have direct investments in public infrastructure through domestic private equity funds and venture capital firms would be lowered to 1.28 percent from 10.18 percent, it said.
That means insurance companies would only need about one-10th of the capital currently required for public infrastructure investments, a change that is expected to encourage insurers to allocate more capital to the local market rather than to foreign assets, the NDC said.
The council would also review strategic industry cases with public construction elements to ease investment limits on the insurance industry, increase financing guarantees from the government and improve the efficiency of capital utilization, it added.
In terms of increasing financial products related to public construction, the government aims to promote real-estate investment trusts, expand the issuance of sustainable development bonds and push public construction securitization, the council said, adding that it would help the government reduce public construction financing costs while providing high-quality financial products for private investors.
Several potential projects are applicable to the issuance of sustainable development bonds, including planned expansion of the Kaohsiung MRT’s Orange Line, Kaohsiung International Airport’s new terminal project, a Taoyuan MRT project and social housing projects run by the Ministry of the Interior, the council said, adding that it expects NT$510 billion to NT$610 billion (USS$15.7 billion to US$18.8 billion) of sustainable development bonds would be issued for public infrastructure, with a yield of 1.26 to 1.27 percent.
The national investment plan would be jointly promoted by the council, the Ministry of Finance and other ministries, as well as the Financial Supervisory Commission, it said.
It is projected to attract NT$682.9 billion from the private sector to participate in public infrastructure from next year to 2028 and create 126,000 jobs, the council said.
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