A study released in May 2005 by the Asian Development Bank, Japan Bank for International Cooperation and the World Bank said that China needs infrastructure investment amounting to $160 billion per year for the next five years in order to cope with population growth and private-sector demand.
      The China Electricity Council reported in September 2004 that it plans to reach from 215 to 245 billion kilowatts of installed power capacity in the next five years through a $121-billion investment that includes the construction of 13 coal production bases.
      But sometimes the discrete private-sector projects themselves offer their own infrastructure contributions, as their combined critical mass brings into being the systems, connections and partnerships needed to foster both efficiency and sales.
      The chemical industry is a case in point. Almost all sectoral projects in recent months, involving such firms as Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co., Air Products, BP, Cabot Corp. and Rohm & Haas, have been characterized by teamwork with Chinese partner firms.
      One case in particular is the partnership between Tenn.-based Eastman Chemical Co. subsidiary Eastman Chemical Ltd. and Sinopec Qilu Petrochemical Co. on the Qilu Eastman Specialty Chemical Ltd. (QESCL) complex in Zibo, Shandong Province, which started up in November 2004. The $30-million project was the first Sino-foreign JV in Shandong's Qilu Chemical Industrial Zone, the third-largest chemical industry zone in the country. The project follows the establishment of Nanjing Yangtzi Eastman Chemical Ltd., a 50-50 joint venture with Yangtzi Petrochemical Industrial Corp., established in 1998 to manufacture Eastotac hydrocarbon tackifying resin for adhesives.
      "The joint venture enhances Eastman's global capacity for Texanol ester alcohol and TXIB plasticizer," said Damon Warmack, then Asia Pacific region president for the company's Eastman Division, at the opening in November. "We expect a healthy growth in our market segment for these products and have an optimistic outlook for the future of the plant."
      Texanol ester alcohol is a coalescing aid used in architectural paints, while TXIB plasticizer is a primary plasticizer for vinyl, urethanes and other polymers. The only other Eastman sites for production of the two substances are in Longview, Texas, and Singapore.