In May, the mountains are lush and green at the Hunan-Jiangxi border area. Deep in the mountains at the junction of Hehua Neighborhood and Chengtanjiang Town in Liuyang City, the Sujia Tunnel construction is advancing steadily as it digs deeper into the mountain. It is the longest tunnel on the Hunan section of the Changsha-Ganzhou High-speed Railway.

From southern to northern Hunan, the construction of the expansion project of the Hunan section of the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao Expressway has been also in full swing. The expansion projects of the Leiyang-Yizhang and Zhuzhou-Leiyang Expressways are advancing in parallel, racing toward completion and opening to traffic by the end of 2026.

Over the Xiangjiang River, tower cranes dot the scene, machines roar, and cargo vessels shuttle back and forth. Hunan's first 3,000-tonne waterway from Changsha to Chenglingji on the Xiangjiang River is accelerating construction at full speed.

At the construction site of the Meishan Irrigation Zone in the northern severe drought belt of the "Hengyang-Shaoyang-Loudi Arid Corridor," Hunan's first full-face tunnel boring machine "Meishanman" for water conservancy projects operates efficiently, intelligently switching construction operation modes based on geological conditions.

From railways and highways to waterways and water conservancy, a series of major infrastructure construction projects in Hunan have made steady progress since the beginning of this year. In the first quarter, the provincial infrastructure investment grew by 19.7% year on year, outpacing the national average by 10.8 percentage points and driving total investment growth by 3.4 percentage points, becoming the core drive of investment growth.

Behind the growth lies Hunan's systematic planning of major project construction.

At the beginning of the "15th Five-Year Plan" period (2026-2030), the General Office of the People's Government of Hunan Province issued the "Document No.1," laying out 389 provincial key construction projects on a high level. The total investment scale exceeded two trillion yuan, with an annual planned investment of 410 billion yuan.

Key industrial projects racing to enter new sectors have commenced at full capacity, with a batch of large-scale, high-benefit projects with broad impact also moving forward.

The site of the Leayo Intelligent Technology Headquarters project in Liuyang Economic and Technological Development Zone is bustling with activity, where a modern super factory focusing on four major sectors—computing power, big data, new energy, and industrial supporting facilities—will be built.

"According to the construction plan, the project will complete civil works by this October. The full production line layout and gradual commissioning will be achieved in the first quarter of next year," a project representative said. Once fully operational, the project is expected to generate an annual revenue of up to seven billion yuan.

Seizing the construction "golden period," Hunan Xiangjiang New Area launched 23 major projects with a total investment of 18.771 billion yuan, breaking ground simultaneously. The Xiangjiang Intelligent Aviation New Town Low-altitude Economy Industrial Park is targeting key layout for the trillion-yuan-level low-altitude economy track, currently reserving over 100 projects and accelerating the construction of a full-chain industrial cluster for the low-altitude economy.

The Liuyang HKC Mini-LED project has achieved full topping-out; the Megmeet Intelligent Industrial Base project in Changsha Economic and Technological Development Zone is about to break ground; the Ningxiang HG Technology new-generation lithium battery project is advancing at full speed… From traditional manufacturing to emerging industries, each project "seed" is generating new growth drivers for high-quality development in the future.

Data from the Hunan Provincial Bureau of Statistics shows that in the first quarter, investment in major construction projects across the province grew by 5.0% year-on-year, which is 13.7 percentage points faster than the full year of last year, accounting for 78.4% of total investment.

Great changes can be seen through figures and confidence grows through projects. In the first quarter, Hunan vigorously pushed forward the "Investment Promotion Campaign," dispatching 100 officials to the front lines for dedicated liaison services. They focused on 4,345 key projects for the first quarter, continuously accelerating the pace of ongoing projects and advancing the early start of new projects.

"Projects cannot succeed without proper resources," said a relevant official from the Development and Reform Commission of Hunan Province, adding that this year, every effort will be made to ensure efficient supply of resource factors. The authority will adopt pragmatic and solid measures in land and forest use, approval efficiency, and coordination services, to break through "bottlenecks" in project advancement, ensuring the efficient and smooth progress of provincial key construction projects.

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn