China will spend 127 billion yuan (about 15 billion U.S. dollars) on railway construction in its western regions in five years, said Wang Linshu, general engineer of the Ministry of Railways.
Wang said Wednesday at a meeting on economic coordination in southwest China that about half of the investment will go to the southwest.
The Ministry of Railways will help the western regions to have 25,000 km of railways by the year 2005, with 11,400 km in the southwest, he said.
In the past ten years, the investment in railways in southwest China accounted for more than 30 percent of the national total in railway infrastructure construction.
By the end of last year, there were 10,000 km of railways in operation in the southwest, accounting for 15 percent of the nation's total.
The lengthen of electrified railways in southwest China now reaches 4,600 km, doubling the average level of the country.
42,000 Km Roads to Be Constructed in SW China
By the end of 2005, some 42,000-km of new roads will be constructed in southwest China, a senior Chinese official told a meeting Wednesday.
Cao You'an, chief engineer with the Ministry of Communications (MOC), said that the projects included construction of some 3,400-km of expressway, 1,600 of grade-one roads and 11,000-km of grade-two roads.
The projects, with an estimated investment of 220 billion yuan (approximately 26.6 billion US dollars), will increase the gross length of roads in southwest China to 380,000 kilometers.
In southwest China, roads will also be built in 463 towns and 10,000 villages, which at present lack transportation links, Cao said.
MOC also planned to build international thoroughfares in the region to fit in with the country's huge scheme of developing the western region.
(People's Daily 10/09/2001)
