The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will help develop a road network in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China, to promote trade through a regional transport system linking to neighboring Vietnam, said ADB in a news release Wednesday.

The Western Guangxi Roads Development Project is estimated to cost US$1.566 billion and will be implemented in five years. ADB will provide a US$300 million to help fund the project.

"The project will contribute to pro-poor sustainable economic growth in western Guangxi and northern Vietnam by developing an integrated road transport network," said Yang Xiaohong, Senior Financial Analyst of ADB's East Asia Department.

Yang said the project represents an integrated solution to the transport needs of the poor and ethnic minorities in western Guangxi.

She said that of the 2.3 million people expected to benefit from the Project, 80 percent are ethnic minorities and 30 percent are low-income population.

The project will involve the construction of a 177-kilometer expressway; the upgrade of 1,060 kilometers of local and border roads; the improvement of road transport services through the construction of 50 township bus stations and the implementation of passenger bus route licensing reforms.

Guangxi also has joined the ADB-sponsored Greater Mekong Subregional Cooperation Program with Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar and China's Yunnan Province.

(Xinhua News Agency August 16, 2007)