The contract for the Chinese mainland's first undersea tunnel project has been finalized, and construction work will kick off soon.

The 9-kilometer tunnel connects Xiamen city in Fujian Province to its outlying district of Xiang'an. Six kilometers of the project are undersea. The total investment is expected to be 3.2 billion yuan (US$395 million), the most expensive infrastructural project in Xiamen.

The Xiamen-Xiang'an tunnel is not only the first undersea tunnel in Chinese mainland. It is also the first tunnel designed entirely by Chinese engineers.

The tunnel is scheduled to open before 2009. By then, it will take just 15 minutes to travel from Xiamen city to Xiang'an.

(CRI August 14, 2005)