The lines, which will have a total length of 212 kilometers, will all be built during the 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-2005) period.

To reduce costs and improve efficiency, the city set up last year four separate companies to take care of investment, construction, operation, and supervision.

If the plan proceeds smoothly, Shanghai will have built the 10 lines with a daily total traffic capacity of 3 million people, up from the current 700,000.

After completion of the plan in 2005, the daily traffic capacity via railways is expected to account for 25 percent of the city's total public traffic capacity.

However, the city needs a huge fund to complete the project.

"We will strictly adhere to the market economy principle and investors will get benefit," said Zhang Guijuan, chairman of the Shanghai Shentong Group, through which government policy and financial support of railway construction are formalized.

The Shanghai AJ Trust & Investment Company, which invested 1.7 billion yuan (204 million US dollars) in constructing an outer-ring road tunnel, has signed a letter of intent with the group.

(People's Daily 04/30/2001)