Construction of Guangdong's long-awaited Guangzhou-Foshan subway project will formally start in June, aiming to further expand economic ties between the prosperous Pearl River Delta cities.

 

It is the country's first underground rail project to link two major cities in the southern Chinese province.

 

The Foshan government has established a task force to attract overseas investment for the project and accelerate preparations. Mayor Chen Yunxian is leading the task force.

 

Chen said his city had pinned much hope on the intercity subway to further economic ties with Guangzhou, a trade and logistics hub in South China, and other prosperous cities in the Pearl River Delta that borders the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions.

 

"Foshan, a major manufacturing base in the Pearl River Delta, needs to team up with other cities in the region to increase its competitiveness and prominence in the globalizing world," Chen said.

 

The governments of both cities have opened multiple channels to help raise the hefty construction funds needed for the project in the coming months.

 

The subway project will cost more than 14.7 billion yuan and will include an underground track stretching 32.16 kilometers, a train maintenance base and two transformer substations.

 

The line is expected to be completed in five years and will have 21 stations. It will run through the busy Chancheng and Nanhai districts of Foshan and the Liwan and Haizhu districts of Guangzhou.

 

It will also connect with Guangzhou's subway network in the western part of the Guangdong provincial capital city.

 

Xu Yiping, an official from the Guangzhou Metro Corporation, said the line had been designed to transport more than 40,000 passengers between the two cities within an hour during peak periods.

 

(China Daily March 16, 2007)