China's expressway mileage to top 120,000 km by year end

BEIJING - China's expressway will reach 123,000 kilometers by the end of 2015, the top economic planner said Friday.

At the end of last year, China had 112,000 kilometers of expressways, Hu Zucai, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), told a press conference.

China will accelerate the building of a nationwide expressway network in the next five years to facilitate urbanization and international economic cooperation, he said.

The NDRC said in mid-October that it has approved the construction of six infrastructure projects, with an estimated investment of 68.6 billion yuan ($10.8 billion) in total.

With its economy slowing, China has underscored spending on infrastructure as a major tool to shore up growth.