The first undersea tunnel on the Chinese mainland is expected to begin construction this May in Xiamen, east China's Fujian Province, and is scheduled to be completed by 2010, according to the municipal development and reform commission.

A feasibility report of the tunnel, called the East Passage Project, has been approved by the State Development and Reform Commission earlier this February.

The tunnel will connect the island of Xiamen and the neighboring mainland. It will be about 9 km long and 70 meters underwater, and will cost 3.25 billion yuan (US$391.5 million), the commission said.

The tunnel will have six lanes and a top speed of 80 km per hour. Each end will connect to an expressway.

The tunnel project will be the third passage linking the island of Xiamen with the mainland, joining Xiamen Bridge and Haicang Bridge.

Upon completion, the tunnel is expected to divert about 30 percent of the traffic flow from the two bridges, the commission said.

The feasibility study was approved in April by experts who checked the bridge and tunnel construction, geology, oceanology, hydrology and economics. The experts said construction of a tunnel is the best choice, as it will protect the environment and resources.

A consortium headed by the Bank of China and composed of the Agricultural Bank of China, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and State Development Bank has offered loans totaling 2.6 billion yuan (US$313.2 million) for the tunnel project, said the director of the city's development and reform commission.

(Xinhua News Agency February 18, 2005)