Seven Chinese provinces announced 287 public-private partnership projects on Oct 20 that will be open to private investors. The projects, collectively worth around 940 billion yuan ($148 billion), include municipal works, highways, rail, airport, water conservation and energy projects.

They were announced during a PPP promotional teleconference organized by the National Development and Reform Commission in cooperation with the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce.

PPPs are collaborative projects between governments and private companies that are mainly funded and operated by the latter.

Such partnerships could help improve structural reforms related to investment and financing and energize private investment while improving public products and services, said Zhang Yong, deputy head of the NDRC.

China is turning to PPPs to bridge a large financing shortfall in infrastructure construction, in a bid to temper the economic slowdown caused largely by the ongoing real estate downturn.

The government said it will streamline approval procedures for PPPs, and roll out tax breaks and other financial rewards to boost their development.

The capability of local investment financing has dropped since last year for various reasons, therefore local authorities could support PPP projects with capital raised by bond issuance, Xu Kunlin, head of the NDRC’s fixed investment department, said at a press briefing last month.