China approves transport projects worth nearly $12b

BEIJING - China's top economic planner said Thursday it has approved three transport infrastructure projects with a total investment of nearly 80 billion yuan ($12 billion).

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) approved a 41-billion-yuan project to expand the Urumqi International Airport in the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, according to the NDRC website.

Two runways and a new terminal covering 450,000 square meters will be built, with the goal of increasing the airport's passenger throughput to 63 million and cargo and mail throughput to 750,000 tons by 2030.

The NDRC also approved a project to build a 111.8-km section of a rail line connecting the eastern cities of Shanghai and Nantong, with an estimated investment of 36.8 billion yuan.

The construction of a 1.5-billion-yuan new civilian airport in Yulin city of the southern Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region was also approved.

In the January-July period, fixed-asset investment in China grew 8.3 percent year on year to 33.74 trillion yuan, compared with an expansion of 8.6 percent in the first half, official data showed.