HOHHOT, April 17 (Xinhua) -- North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region announced Friday it plans to invest 32 billion yuan (about 4.52 billion U.S. dollars) in 93 highway construction projects this year.

These projects, with a total investment of 187.6 billion yuan, consist of 17 expressway projects with a construction scale of 1,959 km, and 76 national and provincial trunk highway projects with a construction scale of 6,410 km.

More than 20,000 workers have resumed work in 66 projects in the region as of Thursday.