Published by: World Tibet Network News, Tuesday, July 30, 1996

BEIJING (July 26) XINHUA - China has drawn up detailed plans to speed up economic development in the country's western parts, an official from the State Planning Commission revealed today.

When the plan is fully implemented, it will narrow the gap between economically developed coastal eastern China, and the underdeveloped western part, said Jin Ping, head of the strategic development division under the State Planning Commission.

The development strategy comprises construction of railways, highways, telecommunication facilities, infrastructure and the establishment of new agricultural and industrial bases.

Key projects planned for the forthcoming five years include construction of a railway line linking Nanning, capital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province, and a 1,000-km-long double-track railway line between Guiyang, capital of Guizhou Province, and Zhuzhou, a city in southern Hunan Province, and upgrading of a railway section between Guiyang and Kunming.

Meanwhile, a 1,000-km-long railway line connecting Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province, with Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province, will be built to cope with growing freight transport.

A high-grade highway between Lianyungang, a port city in Jiangsu, and Xinjiang' Horgos is expected to be operational by the year 2000.

Other key projects listed in the Five-Year Plan are renovation of existing Sichuan-Tibet highway, and airports at Urumqi, Nanning, Guilin, Yinchuan and Guiyang.

Meanwhile, China is building or will build eight telecommunication trunk lines spanning north and south China and another eight trunk lines striding east to west.