Private investment in North China's Shanxi province reached 835.3 billion yuan in 2015, an increase of 21 percent from a year earlier, said the province's statistics bureau.

As resources integration started in Shanxi in 2008, the province that used to rely on state investment for coal and old industries saw its private investment become active.

The amount of private investment has grown over the past several years, with annual increases ranging from 20 to 46 percent. Taiyuan, capital city of Shanxi, had its total private investment reach 100.1 billion yuan ($15.22 billion)?which contributed 63.8 percent to the city's overall investment growth.

The scope of private investment has expanded beyond the second industry to the first and?tertiary industries. In addition to mining and building, money has been put into the Internet, online services, subway construction, nursing institutions for the aged, and renovation of shanty towns.

Industrial insiders said private investment will inject power into the economy and help the province achieve industrial transformation, changing the previous coal-based lopsided economic structure.