November 27, 2006

$250B for China infrastructure

BEIJING

China plans to spend about US$250 billion extending the country’s expressways over the next three decades.

The government also plans to put about $190 billion into improving and extending rail networks by 2010, the official Xinhua News Agency and China Daily newspaper said.

The roadways plan will more than double the existing expressway network, bringing it to 85,000 kilometres within 30 years.

China, once known as the kingdom of bicycles, has been transformed into a car culture, with vehicle ownership up 30 per cent between 1985 and 2004.

Most of the roadways budget — $138 billion — has been earmarked for projects in the impoverished western region. The government has been spending massive amounts of money on infrastructure projects in Tibet, Xinjiang, Qinghai and other remote regions of the west that have been left behind in China’s economic boom.

The report said $39 billion would be spent in eastern China and $66 billion in central areas.

Li Guoyong, transportation director of the National Development and Reform Commission, was quoted by the China Daily as saying the rail plan would be the biggest in China’s history and would increase the country’s rail network by 20 per cent.

The money will be spent on new trains, new lines and civil engineering, it said.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

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