The ADB said the proposed project, for which the TA will help
with a feasibility study, is the middle segment of Xuzhou-Lanzhou
main passenger trunk line, running from Zhengzhou in central China
to Xi'an in northwest China.
According to the ADB, in the project area, about 2.6 million
people live on incomes below the national or provincial poverty
line and most of the 3,300 poverty-stricken villages do not have
access to highways, electricity, telephones or clean drinking
water.
Passing through 16 counties of Henan
and Shaanxi
provinces, including five poor counties, the project will build 455
kilometres of a passenger-dedicated double-track electrified
railway line suitable for speeds of more than 200 kilometers per
hour, and 10 new railway stations, the ADB said.
"Inadequate transport has hindered the economic growth necessary
to reduce rural poverty in the project area. The railway is
therefore a key investment in creating jobs and income-generating
activities for the people," said Manmohan Parkash, an ADB transport
specialist.
"The project will lower transport costs and bring goods and
services closer and more affordable, giving the local people
opportunities to sell their products to broader markets, and an
opportunity to improve their standard of living," Parkash said.
As primary mode of transport for long distance travel and bulk
transport in China, the country's railway system has gained
significant growth in the past two decades, but the capacity still
lags behind demand, with bottlenecks in the system posing a major
constraint to economic growth, the ADB said.
The current practice of transporting both freight and passengers
on the same line also limits speed and restricts the flow of
traffic, it added.
However, the proposed project will be the main passenger link
between the prosperous eastern region and the poorer western
region.
The ADB is the third biggest source of external financing for
China's railway sector after Japan and the World Bank.
Focusing on railway development in the country's more deprived
inland provinces, the ADB has provided 11 loans totaling US$2.06
billion to finance the construction of about 1,737 kilometers of
railways, operated as joint ventures with the Ministry of Railways,
and 4,138 kilometers of new railway lines under four national
railway projects.
(China Daily October 7, 2004)