Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China, has so far
used US$615 million of loans from the World Bank in financing the
construction of high-grade roads and the renovation of highways in
the region's rural areas since 1998.
Information from the regional bureau of communications said
US$600 million of the loan packages have gone to building the
Turpan-Urumqi-Dahuangshan graded highway, the Urumqi-Kuytun highway
and the Kuytun-Sayram Lake highway, with a combined length of 852
km.
In the meantime, the region has also used US$15 million of World
Bank loans in upgrading 12 roads in its rural areas, enormously
improving conditions for local farmers and herders to travel
around.
Xinjiang, with an area of 1.6 million sq km, is the largest
provincial-level region in the country by territory. The region is
now well connected up by 90,000 km of highways.
(Xinhua News Agency November 8, 2005)