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Guangdong On the Road to More Prosperity
South China's Guangdong Province is hoping an improved highway network will help improve the economy.
The area plans to invest more than 114.5 billion yuan (US$13.8 billion) to complete a road system connecting major cities and counties in the province in the next five years.
The money will mainly be spent on building an extra 5,000 kilometres of road to join the province's existing network linking Guangdong to neighbouring Hong Kong and Macao.
"The move is aimed at making transport facilities better serve the province's fast economic growth and strengthen economic ties with the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and the rest of the country," said an official from the Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Communication, who declined to be named.
By the end of 2005, Guangdong will have more than 102,000 kilometres of roads, including more than 5,000 kilometres of motorway, the official said.
He said every 100 square kilometres in Guangdong will eventually have 57.3 kilometres of road, leading the country in the amount of highway construction.
To do this, Guangdong will have to continue its efforts to raise the money needed for the huge project.
Foreign financial support will continue to play an important role.
Top priority will be given to building roads between Shenzhen and the western passage of Hong Kong, the second phases of Shenzhen Yanba expressway, the Guangdong section of Zhanjiang-Chongqing highway, the Guangdong section of the Beijing-Zhuhai expressway and the Guangdong section of the Guangzhou-Wuzhou expressway.
Guangdong has taken the lead in attracting overseas capital resources in road construction in recent years.
The World Bank and money from Hong Kong have also played an important role in road building.
Guangdong now has Guangzhou-Shenzhen and Guangzhou-Zhuhai motorways, which have got the funds from Hong Kong investors and the World Bank.
The roads link the cities of Dongguan, Zhongshan, Foshan, Jiangmen, Huizhou and Shunde to Hong Kong and Macao.
The two motorways have contributed to Guangdong's quick economic growth and use of foreign investment in recent years, the official said.
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