SHANGHAI, China — China has accelerated approvals for infrastructure spending on 20 more road, port and channel projects as it moves to revive its economy.

China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country’s economic planner, on Thursday announced approval of development and feasibility studies for 13 road projects across the country, with a total length of more than 1,243 miles.

The projects include highway expansions in Jilin, Jiangxi and Zhejiang provinces, as well as feasibility studies for roads in Hebei, Xinjiang, Liaoning, Gansu and Yunnan.

The NDRC on Wednesday approved 25 rail projects valued at more than 700 billion yuan ($110 billion).

"In the short term, these projects could boost the steel industry, but they are not good news in the long run," a trader in Shanghai said.

"The industry needs restructuring, and it could well make full use of the downbeat market to push forward with its transformation, as the slack market will eliminate nonefficient capacities. But any stimulus plan could end up spoiling that," a steel mill source in Jiagsu told AMM sister publication Steel First.