The Asian Development Bank has approved a 500-million-dollar loan for China to construct a railway linking Yichang in central China's Hubei Province with Wanzhou in Chongqing Municipality.

The loan will also be used to build auxiliary facilities for power transmission, cargo, and storage along the 380-kilometer route.

It is the largest loan that the ADB has ever offered China.

(CRI January 12, 2004)