Building infrastructure for the world

The project will drive a large number of domestic infrastructure project providers and heavy equipment manufacturers to build and enlarge their market presence in Africa, and further promote international industrial capacity cooperation between China and Nigeria, said Zhou Lisha, a researcher at the research division of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

"The government previously paid more attention to the scale of SOEs' revenue, but for the next stage, more attention will be placed on SOEs' returns in areas such as net assets, revenue margin, development in overseas markets, debt elimination, investment in research and development, and the level of securitization to support the national economy," she said.

In all, 11,028 SOEs have built a presence in 185 countries and regions across the world with 7.6 trillion yuan ($1.08 trillion) of assets by the end of 2018.

Thanks to business and market channel diversification, their sales revenue and profit amounted to 5.4 trillion yuan and 131.89 billion yuan respectively in 2018, SASAC data showed.

Peng Huagang, secretary-general of the SASAC, said SOEs have gradually expanded their overseas projects from resource development and infrastructure construction to industrial cooperation and other types of investment packages, especially in economies participating in the Belt and Road Initiative.

For the next step, the government will continue to support SOEs to study and flexibly use international rules, and improve their transnational management capacity, as well as raise their safety awareness and risk prevention capabilities, he said.

Supported by over 15,000 Chinese and foreign employees, CHEC to date has built a presence in over 100 countries and regions, with a total contract value of $30 billion for projects under construction.