Construction work on a 54.5-km-long expressway is expected to start at the end of the year in south China's Guangdong Province, at cost of 3.8 billion yuan (US$457million).

The expressway, running from Shantou to Jieyang, is expected to be open to traffic in 2006. The construction will include 12 bridges and 45 culverts.

The expressway will have four or six lanes at different sections traversing different landforms. It is a key local construction project of the 10th five-year plan period (2001-2005),and part of the national expressway trunk linking Shantou and Kunming, capital of southwest Yunnan Province.

(Xinhua News Agency October 25, 2003)