The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said in Manila Wednesday that it is helping China prepare an east-northwest railway project through a technical assistance (TA) grant of 500,000 US dollars.

The ADB said that 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 city in the east 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 3,300 poverty-stricken villages do not have access to highways, electricity, telephones and clean drinking water.

Passing through 16 counties of Henan and Shaanxi provinces, including five poor counties, the project will build 455 kilometers of a passenger-dedicated double-track electrified railway line suitable for speeds of over 200 km 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 railwayis 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 transportation 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 transportation 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 stilllags 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 east-west region and the poorer western region.

"The railway will offer them more affordable, reliable, and punctual transport than is currently available," said Parkash.

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 2.06 billion dollars to finance construction of about 1,737 km of railways, operated as joint ventures with the Ministry of Railways,and 4,138 km of new railway lines under four national railway projects.

Source: Xinhua