A five-year blueprint was mapped out by north China's Hebei Province to stress the need to accelerate railway construction in a bid to promote local economic development.

A total of 95.6 billion yuan (about US$12 billion) will be invested in railway construction during the country's 11th Five Year Program (2006-2010) for National Economic and Social Development.

According to the Hebei provincial transportation department, the total length of railways built in the period will reach 2,018 kilometers.

Some 88.8 billion yuan of the total investment will be used in national railway construction projects and the remaining 6.8 billion yuan will be used to build railways linking local sites across the province.

By 2010, Hebei will build a comprehensive railway network involving a total length of 6,000 kilometers, providing the province access to the outside market all over the country..

In 2006 alone, 4.8 billion yuan will be poured into railway building projects linking its capital city Shijiazhuang and other major cities in and out of the province.

China is making efforts to accelerate infrastructure construction and governments at all levels are working hard to improve transportation conditions, such as railways, rural and urban road networks.

(Xinhua News Agency February 22, 2006)