Xinjiang allocates RMB 5.4 bln to hasten highway construction

Aug. 5, 2009 (China Knowledge) - Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region will spend an additional RMB 5.4 billion in the next two months to speed up highway construction, said Wang Xinhua, Communist Party chief of the regional transport department.

Wang said that RMB 1 billion of the total investment will be used to build roads in rural areas and that the remaining RMB 4.4 billion will be used to finance the region's road infrastructure projects.

Xinjiang has set aside a record RMB 15 billion in investment for constructing 20,000 km of new expressways and highways this year, said Wang, adding that the region had finished RMB 6 billion worth of projects as of the end of last month.

During the period from January to July, Xinjiang invested RMB 6 billion in fixed assets. Investment in road construction in rural areas surged 169% year on year to RMB 1.8 billion.

Xinjiang, which had only 3,361 km of highway in 1949, had a total highway mileage of 147,000 km as of the end of 2008, ranking tenth in the country.