Ministry tightens scrutiny of PPP projects to curb risks

A new round of investigation on risky public-private partnership (PPP) projects has started in China, with an eye on slowing the growth in local government debt and preventing financing risks, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday.

PPP projects worth more than 13 trillion yuan ($1.88 trillion) will be re-evaluated, to figure out whether the financing process has increased the off-budget debt of local governments. The order has been sent to all provincial-level local governments, a senior official from the ministry's Finance Department, who did not want to be named, told China Daily.

The investigation is expected to be completed by the end of June, and after that all PPP projects will be supervised by a national government debt supervising system, according to the official.