China makes headway in construction of major road projects

BEIJING -- A total of 299 new projects of expressways and national and provincial highways were kicked off in China in the first nine months of the year, with a length of 9,645 km, according to the Ministry of Transport.

The total investment of these projects hit 882.6 billion yuan ($123 billion), Gu Zhifeng, an MOT official, told a press conference on Monday.

In September alone, 34 new major road projects were initiated, Gu said, adding that their total investment reached 385.3 billion yuan, skyrocketing about 277 percent from a month ago.

Gu stated that the ministry would continue to intensify efforts on expanding effective investment and accelerating the implementation of a slew of major road projects to better leverage the role of key projects in stabilizing economic operations.

According to the MOT, a total of 16,721 charging points have been built in China's 3,974 expressway service areas as the country has accelerated the construction of battery charging facilities along the roads.