ADB approved a US$250 million loan for a road project to spur economic growth and reduce the cost of transport for remote hinterland communities in northwest China. 

The Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (Ningxia) Roads Development Project will finance the construction of a 182-km, four-lane toll expressway from Tongxin to Yanchuanzi in southern Ningxia and upgrade about 400 km of local roads, ADB said in a press statement.

This route will connect Yinchuan with Xi'an and Wuhan, all in west China, and provide a north-south connection between other routes in the national trunk highway system.

The loan carries a 25-year term, including a grace period of five years. Civil work is slated to start on the highway at the end of the year, to be completed in five years.

(Xinhua News Agency September 12, 2003)