China has approved 25 new urban railway projects, state media said on Thursday, in a sign the government is ramping up infrastructure spending to boost the country's economy.
Top state planner the National Development and Reform Commission had approved projects valued at more than 800 billion yuan (S$157 billion) in cities nationwide, the official Xinhua news agency said.
Statements posted on Wednesday on the commission's website showed the projects in 18 cities were approved between April and August. They include two metro lines in Shanghai.
"The move marks the government's latest effort to stabilise economic growth," Mr Xu Changle, an economics professor at Shanghai's East China Normal University, was quoted by Xinhua as staying.
Beijing has already cut interest rates twice this year, in June and July, and trimmed the amount of funds banks must place in reserve three times since last December, but there have been calls for policymakers to do more.
China's economy has eased markedly over the past year, expanding 7.6 per cent in the second quarter of 2012, the worst performance in three years.
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