BEIJING,May 8-- Zhuhai is speeding up its construction of highways in a bid to become a traffic center in the western Pearl River Delta (PRD) area, the local transportation authority said yesterday.
The city will invest more than 14 billion yuan ($2 billion) in 10 highway projects. The work will start this year and continue until 2012, said Zheng Chaolong, director of the Zhuhai transportation bureau.
"The highways will link harbors, airports and checkpoints between Zhuhai and Macao, helping develop the city into an important transportation hub in the western PRD region," Zheng said.
This year alone, the city has earmarked 3.7 billion yuan for urban provincial highway projects, Zheng said.
The work is part of the provincial government's plan to accelerate domestic consumption by speeding up infrastructure development amid the global economic downturn, Zheng said.
"By next year, about 152 km of new highways will be added to the city's current traffic network," Zheng said.
He highlighted the importance of the proposed Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, which will be started at the end of the year.
The 29.6-km bridge, which will be the world's longest sea link, will attract 37.4 billion yuan in government investment and more than 21 billion yuan in bank loans. The city will also push on with renovations of the Gongbei checkpoints linking Zhuhai and Macao.
"The renovation is to meet increasing traffic demand after the bridge linking Hong Kong, Macao and Guangdong is completed," Zheng said.
(Source: China Daily)
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