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ADB extends $300m loan for China railway project

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-11-18 22:36

The Lanzhou-Chongqing railway will become an integral part of the railway network to boost connectivity and trade between China and the neighboring Greater Mekong Subregion, and Central Asia and Europe.

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A joint venture company has been set up by MOR and the governments of Gansu, Sichuan and Chongqing to build, operate and manage the railway. It will outsource a wide range of services to the private sector, and seek strategic and private investors, given the high costs involved.

ADB is China's leading development partner in the railway sector, providing over US$3 billion to build lines and improve safety standards, as well as helping with ongoing sector reforms. In addition, ADB is providing a technical assistance grant of US$800,000 to prepare the energy efficiency strategy for China's railways and identify ways of improving the energy efficiency of the country's entire rail network.

At present, railways in China have the highest freight transport density in the world and the second-highest passenger transport density after Japan. While the government has carried out an aggressive network expansion, capacity still lags demand, partly because of system bottlenecks and other constraints.

Under its current railway development plan through to 2020, the government has pledged to remove the constraints, roll out more lines, increase average speed and continue to give priority to areas that are undeveloped and lack transport services.

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