Can big local projects effectively drive growth?

Editor's Note: As Premier Wen Jiabao has said repeatedly over the past few weeks, maintaining economic growth is a national priority. However, where will the much-needed new driving force for growth come from?

Talking about boosting growth, China business watchers know what the government did after the Wall Street meltdown in late 2008. For the next couple of years, it was the investment projects rolled out by the central government, initially worth 4 trillion yuan ($640 billion) in total, that helped China lead the world in GDP growth.

Capital investment by the government can generate immediate power for growth, as Chinese leaders have said. But this time around, it is local government projects - those decided by planning officials at the provincial or municipal level - that seem to dominate the list of newly announced projects, with the local investment plans amounting to 7 trillion or even 8 trillion yuan.