Beijing is to build a new subway connecting two districts in the city's western part, a spokesman with the Beijing Municipal Communications Commission announced Thursday.

The commission has completed a plan on construction of the new subway and on land development at areas along the subway.

The subway will connect the World Park in Fengtai District with the Capital Gymnasium in Haidian District, via the Beijing Western Railway Station, also in Haidian District.

The north-to-south subway will have 15 stops with a total length of 18.3 km. The first phase covers a distance of 5.9 km., which starts from the Beijing Western Railway Station and extends northward to link with the No. One route.

The spokesman disclosed that the public-private partnership (PPP) would be adopted in fund raising for the project.

So far, Beijing has seen operation of three subway routes and an elevated train route which has 70 stations with a length of 114 kilometers. The four routes handled 600 million passengers last year.

The north-to-south No. 4 and No. 5 lines, plus the east-to-west No. 10 line are now under tense construction and expected to be finished before 2008, when the city will host the Summer Olympic Games.

Source: Xinhua