The World Bank has agreed to grant US$100 million in loans to a state highway construction project in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, local government sources said on Monday.

According to the regional transport authority, the credit will account for one-third of the total project investment estimated at about 2.18 billion yuan (US$262.7 million).
  
The project involves the construction of a first-class road from Hailar to Manzhouli of Inner Mongolia, which is the last section of the state highway linking Manzhouli with Suifenhe, in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. The Suifenhe-Manzhouli line is one of the seven major east-west state highways under the plan of the Ministry of Communications.  

The Hailar-Manzhouli section is located in the Hulun Buir League of Inner Mongolia and will serve as a key channel for trade between the northern and northeastern parts of China, as well as between China and its neighboring countries such as Russia and Mongolia.  

The regional transport authority of Inner Mongolia said that construction of the Hailar-Manzhouli section would start this year and be completed in 2008. 

(Xinhua News Agency May 2, 2005)