In the 2007 fiscal year, the World Bank will issue US$200 million loans to support China's railway construction, said the National Development and Reform Commission on Thursday.

 

The loans will be used to upgrade a railway linking the Liupanshui city in southwest China's Guizhou Province and Zhanyi county in Yunnan Province.

 

This section is an important part of the Shanghai-Kunming railway. The project will cost a total of 8.57 billion yuan (about US$1.1 billion).

 

China plans to invest 1.25 trillion yuan to construct 17,000 kilometers of railway during its 11th Five-Year Plan period (2006-2010).

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 8, 2006)