China completed on Wednesday the construction of a second blacktop highway across the Taklamakan Desert in the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The 424-km highway runs from Aral, a city in central Xinjiang, and ends in the Hotan prefecture in the south of the region, traversing the Taklamakan Desert.

Construction of the road began in June 2005 with an investment of 790 million yuan (US$105 million). Around 180 km was built by the People's Armed Police Force.

The highway, which is expected to open on Oct. 1, will shorten by half the travel time between Aksu prefecture, which administers Aral, and the Hotan area.

Xinjiang's first highway through the desert opened to traffic in 1995. It is the world's longest desert highway at 522 kilometers.

The Taklimakan Desert, China's largest desert, is in the center of the Tarim Basin, south of the Tianshan Mountains. It is 1,000 kilometers from west to east and 400 kilometers from north to south, covering 324,000 square kilometers.

(Xinhua News Agency August 2, 2007)