Subways risky way to stimulate growth

THE NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planner, has strengthened its supervision of rail transportation projects. Beijing Youth Daily commented on Monday:

A number of underground rail projects in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region have been canceled. Baotou may find it particularly hard to say goodbye to its underground rail project, since it was half way through construction. Many Baotou residents may also find it hard to let go of the idea. They have been waiting for the subway for two years.

Chinese cities have to meet many criteria to gain approval for a subway. These include annual GDP of over 100 billion yuan ($15 billion) and a downtown population of 3 million.