The Asian Development Bank has approved a US$250m loan for a roads project in Ningxia Hui autonomous region. It will finance construction of a 182km four-lane toll expressway from Tongxin to Yanchuanzi in southern Ningxia and upgrade about 40km of local roads. The expressway will be the missing link in the Yinchuan-Wuhan corridor that will run via Xian.
The ADB will also extend a US$400m loan to build a rail line and roads in Yunnan province. It will provide US$250m to build the Western Yunnan Expressway to Burma and US$150m for a railway connecting the popular tourist towns of Dali and Lijiang.