Highway Project Funded by Exim

The Export-Import Bank of China (China Exim Bank) has decided to provide 12.6 billion yen (US$105 million) in Japanese loans for the Heihe-Bei'an highway project in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

The bank on Wednesday signed a lending agreement with the Heilongjiang Heibei Highway Construction Co Ltd in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang.

The 243.7-kilometre highway, a section of the 202 State Highway, is regarded as an important thoroughfare linking Heihe and Harbin with other areas in China.

The highway is expected to be completed within three years. It will be capable of handling 6,600 vehicles a day by 2003 and 11,300 by 2010, according to an official with the highway company.

The project will play a significant role in local economic development, he added.

One of the major conduits for foreign government loans, or on-lending loans, to China, China Exim Bank has recently concentrated on funding large infrastructure projects in transportation, energy, urban construction and environmental protection, according to Zhang Guanhan, an official with the bank.

The bank signed a similar lending contract with the Guizhou Provincial Bureau of Finance in March in which it provided 6.27 billion yen (US$53.5 million) in Japanese loans for the Guiyang Environmental Model City Project in Southwest China.

In 2000, the bank approved on-lending loans worth US$1.6 billion. These loans included 112.5 billion yen (US$1.0 billion) from the Japanese Government loans.

By the end of April this year, the outstanding amount of on-lending loans provided by China Exim had reached US$15.7 billion.








People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/