The country's leading State-owned investment holding company has pledged to hasten its development to help quench the country's thirst for energy.

An official with the State Development and Investment Corporation (SDIC) said the company had given top priority to development and laid special emphasis on investment in power and coal, both of which are badly needed in many areas of the country to feed rapid economic growth.

The official, who declined to be named, told China Daily that the newly-revised figures of SDIC's development blueprint tell something of its ambitious development goals over the coming years.

In terms of total assets, the company aims to more than double its 2004 figure of 78 billion yuan (US$9.43 billion) to 220 billion yuan (US$26.6 billion) by 2012.

It expects total profits to shoot up to 10 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) by 2012 from last year's figure of 3.2 billion yuan (US$386.94 million).

Established 10 years ago, SDIC has a registered capital of 5.8 billion yuan (US$701.11 million) and has wholly-owned investment arms in the power, coal, transportation and venture capital fields as well as an asset management company.

By the end of 2004, the company had invested in 242 enterprises across the country and held a controlling stake in 61 of those firms.

"Our aim is to become a top-class domestic investment holding company in five years and develop our company into a first-class world investment holding company in 10 years," the official said.

This requires the company to broaden its fund channels and make full use of the favourable conditions in the market, the official said without offering specific information.

However, it has been learned that the company has signed agreements with leading domestic banks on credit lines to fuel its present and future development projects.

With sufficient funds and strong support from domestic banks, SDIC will invest in and complete the construction of a series of power stations to bring its total installed capacity to 50 million kilowatts in the coming 10 years. One of the biggest projects will be the Yalongjiang River hydropower stations in Sichuan Province.

At the same time, the company will build high-efficiency coal-fuelled power stations in Wuhu of Anhui Province, Zhoushan of Zhejiang Province and Tianjin, the official said.

To date, SDIC has invested in 48 hydropower and coal-fuelled power projects in the country which have a total installed capacity of 16.71 million kilowatts. Of the projects, the Ertan Hydropower Station in Sichuan Province is the second largest of its kind in operation in the country with an installed capacity of 3.3 million kilowatts.

Source: China Daily