The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will help develop a road
network in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China, to promote
trade through a regional transport system linking to neighboring
Vietnam, said ADB in a news release Wednesday.
The Western Guangxi Roads Development Project is estimated to
cost 1.566 billion U.S. dollars and will be implemented in five
years. ADB will provide a 300 million U.S. dollars to help fund the
project.
"The project will contribute to pro-poor sustainable economic
growth in western Guangxi and northern Vietnam by developing an
integrated road transport network," said Yang Xiaohong, Senior
Financial Analyst of ADB's East Asia Department.
Yang said the project represents an integrated solution to the
transport needs of the poor and ethnic minorities in western
Guangxi.
She said that of the 2.3 million people expected to benefit from
the Project, 80 percent are ethnic minorities and 30 percent are
low-income population.
The project will involve the construction of a 177-kilometer
expressway; the upgrade of 1,060 kilometers of local and border
roads; the improvement of road transport services through the
construction of 50 township bus stations and the implementation of
passenger bus route licensing reforms.
Guangxi also has joined the ADB-sponsored Greater Mekong
Subregional Cooperation Program with Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia,
Thailand, Myanmar and China's Yunnan Province.??
(Xinhua News Agency August 16, 2007)
