China's insurers, including the Hong Kong-listed China Life and Ping An, have been approved to invest 40 billion yuan (US$5.06 billion) into the Shanghai-Beijing high-speed railway, Beijing Morning Post reported today.

The investment accounts for almost one third of the 130 billion yuan project, said Zhou Yanli, vice chair of China's Insurance Regulatory Commission.

The Chinese government issued a regulation in March allowing insurers to invest in the country's key infrastructure projects, including transportation, energy and public utilities.

China's railway construction industry is short of funds, especially the money raised directly from the market, the newspaper said.

Only 10 percent of the current investment into railway construction is from the market, said Li Guoyong, vice director of the transport department of China's National Reform and Development Commission. The investment from the central and local governments' accounts for 62 percent, while the remaining 28 percent comes from bank loans, he added.

Chinese insurers initially planned to invest 80 billion yuan into the project, according to media reports two months ago.

The commission's new rule stipulates that insurance companies can invest no more than 5 percent of their total assets into public works. By the end of last year, Chinese insurers had combined assets of 1.5 trillion yuan.
 
Editor: Yan