More than 531 million yuan (US$66 million) has been allocated for 15 construction projects within the city, of which 180 million is to be used for the renovation of 191 roads.

The budget was approved by the Shenzhen Municipal People's Congress (MPC) yesterday.

Of the 180 million yuan, about 112 million yuan will be spent to repair the surfaces of 15 major roads, including Xinzhou and Shangbu roads in Futian District. Another 31.5 million will help replace the concrete lampposts on 107 roads with steel ones. Some 28.5 million yuan will be used to purchase lampposts for 69 roads and 8 million yuan on minor repairs.

More than 10 million yuan will be used to build a pedestrian walkway linking the Huanggang Checkpoint in Shenzhen's Futian District and Lok Ma Chau Customs in Hong Kong.

Some 74.6 million yuan will be allocated for the construction of two hospitals, a local blood center and a health care center.

More than 76.9 million yuan will be used to construct facilities for five local high schools and colleges.

The municipal people's procuratorate will be given 8 million yuan to build an information system that will track officials who are abusing their authority. Another 33 million yuan will be given to the municipal government for information management.

"There are 496 million yuan approved for some 22 construction projects by the MPC early this year," said Chen Biao, chief of the municipal development and reform bureau.

The 531 million yuan budget will come from the city's annual construction fund, which is 2.4 billion yuan this year.

(Shenzhen Daily July 27, 2006)