The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region will spend 20 billion yuan on building a "New Silk Road" so as to form a highway network in the region in the coming 20 years, reports the overseas edition of People's Daily on Monday.

Connecting China's hinterland with the Western European industrial center, the modernized road network will interconnect China with the regions of the Central, West and South Asia as well as East Europe, South and West Europe. Of the roads, a length of 4,395 kilometers will be built within China's border, which will be key roads to link China with all Asian nations and also the longest main routes among the five-vertical and seven-horizontal national highway network in the country. The entire length of the Xinjiang section will be 1,476 kilometers long.

The total mileage of Xinjiang highways will reach 150,000 kilometers by 2020 according to the region's "Xinjiang Highway Network Development Program (2001-2020)". The New Silk Road and the Asian highway network, two trunk roads within Xinjiang region, namely 312 and 314 national highways, will be built into expressways.

In addition, an express highway from Urumqi to Beijing via Gansu Province and Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region will be built according to the program in order to strengthen the connections between Xinjiang, Beijing and the eastern part of China, reducing the distance from Xinjiang and the Central Asian nations to the sea.

By People's Daily Online