Along the Jialing River in Liangjiang New Area, tourists are taking photos of the night view at Hongya Cave, a popular landmark in Chongqing. (Photo/Liu Chan)

Chongqing - In the first quarter of 2026, the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle saw 350 major projects reach a total investment of 132.73 billion yuan (about 19.47 billion U.S. dollars), exceeding planned progress by 1.59% and driven by infrastructure, new energy vehicles, and international trade.

Spanning 185,000 square kilometers, the Circle stands as Western China’s most densely populated region, boasting the nation’s strongest regional industrial base and innovation capacity. As a core national strategy, its development is aimed at creating a high-quality growth pole while effectively addressing regional developmental imbalances.

Modern infrastructure projects saw steady advancement during the quarter, with 62.64 billion yuan in completed investment. These projects encompass a wide range of sectors, including transportation, energy, water conservancy, and "new infrastructure," specifically targeting the construction of major bridges, tunnels, dams, ultra-high voltage power projects, and satellite networks.

Parallel to this, modern industry and technological innovation projects progressed with 61.07 billion yuan in investment. The NEV industry remains a central pillar of this growth, with a particular emphasis on the research and production of intelligent cockpit technologies.

This industrial focus builds on the region's established dominance; in 2025, Chongqing solidified its status as China's leading automotive hub with a total output of 2.79 million vehicles, nearly half of which were NEVs.

The effect picture of Chengdu Science and Technology Ecological Island. (Photo/ Chengdu Science and Technology Ecological Island)

Beyond the automotive sector, these investments also support the green transformation of the steel industry and the advancement of intelligent equipment manufacturing.

Investment in cultural tourism, environmental protection, and public services reached 9.02 billion yuan, highlighted by the structural completion of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor Chengdu South Collection and Distribution Center.

With a total investment of 1.09 billion yuan, this project is designed to integrate Sichuan’s export-oriented industries with international logistics to better facilitate the global distribution of local goods. Once operational, the facility will have an annual cargo capacity of 5 million tons and is expected to generate 10 billion yuan in annual output value.

This project serves as a critical node of the ILSTC, a multimodal trade and logistics passage that connects China’s inland western provinces to Southeast Asia and global markets through coastal and borderland ports.