First World Bank-funded expressway in Hunan passes state appraisal

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 ◆ First World Bank-funded expressway in Hunan passes state appraisal

An expressway connecting Xiangtan and Leiyang cities in Hunan Province, the first to be built with World Bank loans in the central Chinese province, passed the state technical assessment recently.

The appraisal committee, composed of experts from the Ministry of Communications, rated it a first-class project.

As part of the national trunk between Beijing and Zhuhai City in south China's Guangdong Province, the expressway has a length of 168 km, the longest of its kind in Hunan.

Work on the principal part of the project started in October 1997 and it went into trial operation in December 2000.

Operation of the expressway will accelerate economic growth in Hunan and facilitate trade and economic cooperation with neighboring provinces and Hong Kong and Macao.