ADB Lends $300 Million To China For Railway Line

MANILA (AFP)--The Asian Development Bank is to lend China $300 million to help build a railway line to boost growth in the poorer western region of the country, the Manila-based lender said Wednesday.

The 820-kilometer line will be the first rail link from northern Lanzhou city in Gansu province, passing through Shaanxi and Sichuan provinces, to the southern Chongqing city, a key manufacturing hub and a major exporter.

"The project is expected to stimulate the development of industrial and natural resources and tourism, generate employment, raise living standards and help reduce poverty" in the area, ADB transport specialist Manmohan Parkash was quoted as saying.

Poor residents, including women and ethnic minorities, will be given hiring preference to build and operate the line, which is estimated to cost a total of $8.6 billion, the ADB added.

To help create a "green corridor" along the rail route, ADB will also, "for the first time, finance environmental protection equipment worth nearly $12 million," it said.

The ADB also said it is providing a separate grant of $20 million to upgrade a 39-kilometer section of road that links China with Kyrgyzstan and other Central Asian countries.

The upgrading will improve the outdated and unwieldy Bishkek-Torugart Road, cutting travel and border-crossing time and boosting cross-country trade, the ADB said.