China Communications Construction Co. , the country's top ports builder, will set aside 18 percent more capital or $1.3 billion this year to fund expansion of a maritime, land and air logistics operation.

The firm -- which is projecting a 20 percent jump in 2007 revenue from 114.88 billion yuan ($14.9 billion) in 2006 -- will devote at least 10 billion yuan ($1.3 billion) for capital expenditure in 2007, Chairman Zhou Jichang said.

Zhou said the firm was not currently considering listing in Shanghai because it did not lack cash. In its 2006 Hong Kong listing prospectus, the firm had set a 2008 target for issuing 3.5 billion A shares -- at a price to be determined.

The company, which is engaged in infrastructure construction, design, dredging and port machinery manufacturing, plans to develop its infrastructure investment sector to account for about one-quarter of its overall profits in five years.

The firm's shares ended down 0.42 percent on Wednesday, underperforming a 0.5 percent rise in the main stock index, after it reported a 45.7 percent rise in 2006 earnings to 3.2 billion yuan, beating the company's forecast of not less than 2.86 billion yuan in its listing document.