South China's Guangdong provincial communications authority has approved the construction of the Nantou-Guangming Expressway project in Shenzhen.

The Nantou-Guangming Expressway, to cost more than 2.4 billion yuan (US$290 million), will be an important passage connecting the Chinese mainland with Hong Kong.

The 26-kilometer expressway starts at Guangming Sub-district in Bao'an District in the north, and end at Nantou in Nanshan District in the south. The expressway will be built with six lanes each way.

The expressway, which will connect with the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Western Corridor, will enable cross-border trucks to avoid busy traffic in Shenzhen.

The northern extension of the expressway will join the Longda Expressway, extending to Dongguan, Zengcheng and Conghua, connecting with the Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway.

Work will start at the end of this year, and is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2006.

Once completed, the expressway is expected to ease heavy traffic around checkpoints.

More than 30 officials with the provincial and municipal government departments and experts attended the assessment meeting in Shenzhen on Friday.

(Shenzhen Daily November 8, 2004)