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Nation to spend US$ 2.5b on railway construction
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-01-04 17:13
China plans to spend 20 billion yuan (about US$ 2.5 billion) in the coming
three years to foster railway construction in the northern Inner Mongolia
Autonomous Region, the regional railway authorities has said.
Meanwhile, the central government will inspire nationwide businesses to
invest in railway construction in the region, where local input on railways
totaled less than 5 billion yuan (US$ 617 million) in the past 30 years.
At least 2,500 kilometers of railways are under construction in Inner
Mongolia to link the autonomous region with the city of Zhangjiakou in Hebei
Province, Shenmu county in Shaanxi Province and Datong in Shanxi Province.
For example, a 177-km-long electrified railway extending from the city of
Ji'ning to Zhangjiakou in northern Hebei province is expected to shorten the
travel distance between the regional capital Hohhot and Beijing by 125
kilometers.
Most new railways are being built to ease Inner Mongolia's pressure in coal
transport. Upon their completion, they will connect Inner Mongolia with major
ports including Tianjin and Qinhuangdao.
Inner Mongolia, one of China's main pastoral areas, has 223.4 billion tons of
coal reserves, 22.3 percent of China's total. There are six large coalfields in
the region, each with 10 billion tons of proven reserves.
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