Construction work will start on phase one of Qingdao Metro this month as planned.

Plans for the city’s urban rail transit were officially approved by the State Council on Aug. 13 last year, according to the Qingdao Urban Rail Transit Short-term Development Planning (2009-2016) issued by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

According to the plans, eight Metro lines will be built in seven districts in Qingdao with a total length of 231.5 km. The project was scheduled to be completed by 2050.

The first phase, Line 3, will connect Qingdao Railway Station and yet-to-be-built Qingdao North Railway Station. It will run along the city coastline through the old downtown — with 22 stops over 25 km.

Pilot construction was started in June last year and work will begin on a large scale on Line 3 this month. It is scheduled to open in 2014.

Qingdao Metro is the biggest infrastructure project in the city and is costing 13 billion yuan (US$1.9 billion).