The project, which is listed in the state plan as a key project,involves a total investment of 7.4 billion yuan (890 million US dollars), including 250 million US dollars in loans provided by the World Bank.

It is part of the expressway to be built between Yinchuan, the capital of northwestern Gansu Province, and Wuhan, the provincial capital of Hubei.

The project will play an important role in improving communications between the western regions, the Yangtze River valley economic belt and China's coastal areas.

The four-lane expressway, designed to originate in Xiaogan and end in Xiangfan, is the longest and the most costly ever to be built in Hubei.

The expressway is expected to be opened to traffic in December 2005.

(People's Daily November 25, 2002)