About 80 billion yuan (US$10 billion) of China's insurance fund will flow into the railway upgrading project between Beijing and Shanghai, one of the country's busiest railways.

Wu Dingfu, chairman of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, revealed this news at a recent forum on innovation and development within China's insurance industry.

Half of the total funds needed for the railway reconstruction project will flow from insurance companies' investments, Wu said.

Insurance companies will inject yearly funds into the project, he said, without clarifying the initial annual figure.

Insurance funds have become active in China's financial market. During the first seven months of this year, investments from Chinese insurance companies hit 1.031 trillion yuan (US$128.875 billion), up 34.77 percent over the same period last year, according to the latest statistics revealed by the China Insurance Regulatory Commission.

The investment returns for the Chinese insurance industry averaged 3.6 percent in 2005, while the annual yield of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway reconstruction should range from 8 percent to 12 percent.

China is expected to invest 1.25 trillion yuan (US$157 billion) in railway construction in its 11th Five-Year Program (2006-10), of which 160 billion yuan (US$20 billion) will be spent in 2006.

(Xinhua News Agency September 6, 2006)