During the past seven years, Zhejiang province has invested more than 60 billion yuan (7.3 billion U.S. dollars) in building the expressways, making it possible to drive between any two cities in the province within four hours, according to a press conference Wednesday held by the provincial transport bureau.

Guo Xuehuan, director of the transport bureau, said that most of the expressways had to be built on soft ground as the province was strewn with rivers, lakes and swamps. The ground foundation contained excessive moisture making it even tougher for engineers and workers to build quality roads.

By the end of this year, 1,300 km of expressways is expected tobe operational in the province with an area of 100,000 sq km.

(Xinhua News Agency November 21, 2002)