Xinhua. July 31, 2002.

Kunming-Bangkok highway project makes new progress

China will put US$360 million to renovate a stretch of its section of the
transnational highway linking China's Kunming City with Bangkok of Thailand,
Chinese official sources said.

Running through a mountainous area, the stretch covers 97 km between Simao
and Xiaomengyang in Yunnan Province. Construction will begin at the end of
this year and a four-lane express highway will be built.

At present there is only a rough road, according to Li Yuguang, director of
the Yunnan Provincial Communications Department.

With a total length of nearly 1,800 km, the transnational highway starts in
Kunming, capital of Yunnan, runs through Laos and ends in Bangkok. The China
section in Yunnan is 688 km.

China has invested 12 billion yuan (US$1.45 billion) to build new highways
or renovate old ones along the route. The remaining stretches are expected
to be completed by the end of 2006.

The project was initiated by the Asian Development Bank. China, Laos and
Thailand reached an agreement in 2000 to build a high- quality highway,
which will eventually be a land connection with Malaysia and Singapore.

Experts say the highway will serve as an important channel of exchanges for
the proposed China-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) free trade
zone.

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