OREANDA-NEWS. December 26, 2011. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will offer loans of USD 200 million to Anhui province to improve its transport infrastructure, local authorities said.

The loans will be used to upgrade and dredge highways and channels across the Industrial Transfer Demonstration Zone in the Anhui Yangtze River City Belt, according to the Department of Transport of Anhui Province.

Under the auspices of the loan program, seven highroads running over a total length of 279 kilometers will be renovated while two channels-a 49.7-kilometer-long section of the Shuiyangjiang River and a 7.5-kilometer-long section of the Wuhu-Shanghai Canal-will be dredged. The total investment of those projects was estimated at 7.14 billion yuan (USD 1.12 billion).

The provincial transport watchdog said it had obtained from international financial institutions loans of USD 1.15 billion to fund USD 4.75 billion transport projects since 1996.