CHINA plans to launch several mixed ownership pilot programs in the oil, natural gas and rail sectors as it deepens reforms of State-owned enterprises (SOEs), the country’s top economic planner said yesterday.

    As China restructures its State-owned companies, it will also moderately increase investment in infrastructure and public services, Xu Shaoshi, head of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), told reporters at a briefing in Beijing.

    In September last year, China issued guidance on reforming State-owned enterprises, including the introduction of so-called mixed ownership of State firms, as part of the most far-reaching reforms of its sprawling and inefficient State sector in two decades.

    China has about 150,000 State-owned enterprises managing more than 100 trillion yuan (US$15.37 trillion) in assets and employing over 30 million people, according to the Xinhua news agency.(SD-Agencies)