The State Development Bank (SDB), one of China's three policy banks, signed an agreement recently to grant from later this year 16 billion yuan (some US$1.93 billion) of loans for expressway construction in inland Guizhou Province in the southwest of the country.

The loans will be used for the construction of seven expressways in the underdeveloped province, which will total 1,068km in length.

By the end of 2003, the province had had 1,372 km of roadways open to traffic, including 326 km of expressways.

Currently, construction work is underway on 532 km of expressways in the province.

As from May this year, SDB had had extended 43.4 billion yuan of (US$5.23 billion) loans for the province, which were mainly used in electricity transmission, road construction and local other infrastructure projects.

Loans used for road construction now account for 30 percent of the 18.2 billion yuan of outstanding loans provided by SDB to the province.
 
(Xinhua News Agency June 12, 2004)