More efforts to renovate substandard housing

    THE Central Government on Sunday vowed to make more efforts to renovate substandard houses in rural areas this year.

    Assistance should first be given to poor rural families who live in the most dilapidated houses or earthquake-prone areas to alleviate severe risks to life and property, according to a joint statement by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, Ministry of Finance and the National Development and Reform Commission, the top economic planner.

    It urges local governments to complete the renovations this year, and make efforts to improve the efficiency of government subsidy funds.

    Transport investment surges 17% in Jan.-Feb.

    CHINA invested 176.3 billion yuan (US$28.7 billion) on the construction of railways, roads and waterways in the first two months of 2015, up 16.9 percent year on year, latest data revealed.

    In break-up, railways investment during the period hit 46.2 billion yuan, up 8.2 percent; roads investment stood at 116.4 billion yuan, up 15.9 percent while waterways investment reached 13 billion yuan, up 85.5 percent year on year, according to data released Friday by the Ministry of Transport.

    March services sector expands

    CHINA’S services sector expanded in March even as growth in employment and new business fell to their lowest in at least eight months, a private survey showed Friday, in yet another sign that the weak Chinese economy may need more policy aid.

    The HSBC/Markit China Services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) inched higher to 52.3 in March, compared with February’s 52.0, and above the 50-point level that separates growth from a contraction in activity on a monthly basis. But the marginal expansion was offset by lackluster growth in employment, which fell to a 10-month trough of 51.1. Growth in new businesses was at an eight-month low.