Raffles Infrastructure to build tourist railway in China for $1.2 bil

SINGAPORE (Oct 22): Raffles Infrastructure Holdings, the company formerly known as China Fibretech, is building a 70km tourist railway with a contract value of RMB6 billion ($1.2 billion).

To be completed in four stages, Phase 1, which stretches from 2018 to 2020, will be for the building of the railway between Songshan’s Tourist Centre to Shaolin Temple Tourist Area; Phase 2 from 2020 to 2022 will be for the completion of the building of railway between the tourist centre to Songshan’s Study Courtyard and Zhongyue Temple. Phase 3, for the building of tourist railway between temple to Luya aWaterfall and Safari Zoological Park, will last from 2022 to 2024. Finally, Phase 4 which runs from 2024 to 2026 will be to complete the building of tourist railway between the park and Chaoyanggou Xiqu Town.

Wholly-owned subsidiary, Raffles (Chengdu) Investment and Development Co signed a framework agreement with the Tourism Board of the People’s Government of Dengfeng and Chengdu Tianfu Railtech Valley Technology Co.

The government of Dengfeng City will provide assistance and support to facilitate the project in Chengdu.

On Sept 10, China Fibretech announced wholly-owned subsidiary, Raffles (Chengdu) Investment and Development Co signed a tripartite agreement with China Railway Construction Corporation Limited-23 Bureau and Tianfu Railtech Valley to form a consortium to bid for infrastructure-related projects.

China Fibretech said the aim of the consortium was to tap on the strengths of each party to bid and secure infrastructure related projects to improve accessibility and reduce environmental pollution.

At that time, China Fibretech said the consortium was planning to bid for two tourist railway projects. These were the Bashan Railway project with a value RMB280 million and the Meishan Railway with a contract value RMB600 million.

Raffles Infrastructure expects the project to contribute “positively” to its earnings. However, the project is not expected to have any material impact on the net tangible assets and earnings per share of the group for the financial year ending Dec 31.

Raffles Infrastructure will make further announcements to keep shareholders informed upon execution of the definitive agreement or when there are material developments in respect of the project.

Year to date, shares in Raffles Infrastructure are down 9% to 40 cents.