Northwest China's Gansu Province will invest 70 billion yuan (US$8.75 billion) in road infrastructure construction, said the provincial source.

A large proportion of the investment, planned for the 2006-2010 period, will go to construction of a major expressway network across the province linking 11 cities with Gansu's capital of Lanzhou.

According to the provincial communications department, Gansu will increase 1,000 kilometers of expressway in the coming five years.

Meanwhile, three national highways in the province's southeastern part are planned to be upgraded to expressways.

The department said Gansu will also kick off construction of 20 state-level highway projects and 30 provincial-level ones, in addition to more than 1,000 bus stations in the countryside across the province, the source said.

(Xinhua News Agency February 20, 2006)