China to spend US$730bn on rail network
22-12-2008
China has announced it will spend five trillion yuan (US$730 billion) between now and 2020 adding 41,000 km to its rail network. The latest edition of Outlook Weekly, published by Xinhua news agency, cited Deputy Railway Minister Lu Dongfu as saying the new railways would help promote economic growth, ease transport bottlenecks and provide at least six million jobs. It did not say how much of the investment was new, and how much had already been approved by the central government, although some of the projects have already begun, such as a high-speed link between Beijing and Shanghai.
