Yesterday the World Bank's Board of Executive Directors approved
a loan of US$300 million to China to help finance?the Shaanxi
Ankang Road Development?Project. The project aims to support
efforts to improve road transport in Shaanxi Province in western
China.
Shaanxi Province, with per capita GDP at around 70% of the
national average, ranks low among the provinces and regions of
China in terms of economic development. A large portion of the poor
population in Shaanxi lives in the Ankang region. Located in the
southern mountainous part of the province, social and economic
development in Ankang has been constrained by a lack of adequate
transport accessibility and a road network of poor quality. The
project will help address that.
"Through this project, we hope to support the Shaanxi Provincial
Transportation Department's plans to improve transport
accessibility in an efficient and safe manner along the corridor
from Ankang to Maoba in Shaanxi Province," said World Bank project
leader and Lead Transport Specialist Aurelio
Menendez. "We expect to
achieve this by enhancing road infrastructure capacity and network
integration along the corridor Ankang-Maoba; increasing
accessibility to markets and social services for the lower-income
families in the rural areas of Ankang; and strengthening the
Shaanxi Provincial Transportation Department's capacity in managing
the increasing number of kilometers of roads in the province and,
in particular, within the Ankang region."
The project will finance the construction of an expressway of
about 87 km connecting Ankang and Maoba; and rehabilitate, expand
and upgrade existing roadways to improve interconnections between
provincial, county and village roads. The Bank will also support an
institutional strengthening program including impact evaluation and
monitoring studies to measure the impacts of road rehabilitation,
acquisition of road-condition data collection equipment, technical
assistance and training of staff from provincial and local
transport management departments.
The total project cost is US$735 million, and Bank finances
US$300 million.
Over the past 20 years, the World Bank has provided support to
more than 65 transport projects in Chinese provinces and cities on
railways, waterways, ports, urban transport and primarily roads and
highways.?
(China.org.cn March 14, 2007)