(Yicai Global) Aug. 17 -- China’s Hubei province, which has been severely hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, has unveiled plans to invest CNY2.3 trillion (USD331.4 billion) in new infrastructure, transport links, public health and other projects over the next three years to jumpstart the economy.

The vast majority of the investment, CNY773.1 billion (USD111.4 billion), will go towards new infrastructure, according to a blueprint recently released by the provincial government. This includes 60,000 fifth-generation telecom base stations, 440 kilometers of high-speed rail track, and 167 kilometers of urban rail transit in the province’s capital city Wuhan.

Around a quarter of the projects, involving an investment of CNY178.3 billion (USD25.7 billion), will be in the public health sector after the pandemic exposed many shortcomings in the sector, the government said.

Hubei will set up convertible wards of no less than 10,000 beds for the treatment of infectious diseases in Wuhan, it said. It will build a unified provincial command, dispatch and emergency rescue mechanism covering water, land and air channels, as well as a “10-minute emergency circle” in city hubs.

Another CNY377.7 billion will be used to construct 30,000 kilometers of new and renovated rural roads as well as 665 kilometers of expressways.

In the first six months of the year, the province’s gross domestic product came to CNY1.75 trillion (USD252 billion), around 80 percent of the same period last year. Fixed asset investment fell 56.2 percent year on year, an improvement of 26.6 percentage points from the first quarter.

Editor: Kim Taylor