Nation to Spend US$42b on Railway ConstructionChina will invest 350 billion yuan (US$42 billion) to develop its railways during the 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-05) period, a document from the Ministry of Railways revealed this week.The record-high investment is 24 billion yuan (US$2.9 billion) more than the Ninth Five-Year blueprint (1996-2000) and will pay to lay about 7,000 kilometres of new rails across the nation. The western part of China will enjoy the greatest percentage of the investment. The 1,118-kilometre-long Qinghai-Tibet railway project itself will cost some 100 billion yuan (US$12 billion). The ministry wrote in the document that their attention to the west is critical for the region's economic development. "Most construction materials and goods will be carried in and out of the region as its economy gears up, which will provide great opportunities for railway transportation,'' the document showed. By the end of 2005, the ministry predicted, China would have 75,000 kilometres of rail tracks. About 14,000 kilometres of rail will be built or renovated to allow higher speeds. Rides between major cities within 1,500 kilometres of one another will take less than 15 hours and rides between cities 2,000 to 2,500 kilometres apart will take 24 hours. Passengers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou will have easy access to any part of the country, the documents predicted. The ministry expects a 4.4 per cent increase in cargo traffic and a 0.9 per cent increase in passenger volume by 2005, prompting the unprecedented investment in the sector. New, more comfortable trains and renovations of older ones will consume about 80 billion yuan (US$9.6 billion). The ministry is promising that speed, comfort standards and on-board service will improve dramatically during the five-year period. The document is a general blueprint of the ministry's goals through 2005.Officials said more details will released in the near future. "We want transparency this time so everyone is familiar with our promises,'' a ministry source said. Source: China Daily |
| People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/ |