Chinese firms gear up to bid US infrastructure projects

Stiff competition among companies bidding for infrastructure projects in the US has pushed China’s biggest engineering and construction companies operating in the country into real estate and other forms of investment. According to the South China Morning Post, difficulties in qualifying for large public-private partnerships (P3s) limit the degree to which China can participate in many billions of US dollars worth of infrastructure spending, said executives of China Construction America.  “We have prepared US$1 billion of equity for US P3 projects since 2006… but I cannot find an opportunity to spend that,” said China Construction America President Ning Yuan. “In the meantime, we’ve been increasingly investing in real estate developments and other projects that generate revenue.” Infrastructure spending by Chinese companies in the US may form a key component of stronger economic ties between the world’s two largest economies, observers say.