By Maverick Chen
China.org.cn staff reporter in Nanning

The Pan-Pearl River Delta (PPRD) rail network will increase rapidly in coming years, better to serve the local economy, said the railway vice minister at the 5th PPRD Forum in Nanning on June 10.

As part of the 5th Pan-Pearl River Delta (PPRD) Regional Cooperation & Development & Trade Fair, the Higher Forum opened on June 10 in Nanning. Top-ranking officials including several ministers, governors of the 9 regional provinces, and chief executives of Hong Kong and Macao all took part in the forum.

Wang Zhiguo, vice minister of railway, pointed out that the geographic location and the economic status of the Pan-Pearl River Delta has always been a driver of railway construction. By the end of 2012, the entire region will be better served through construction of 11,000 km of new lines. With this additional capacity, the total railway network in the area will reach 30,000 km.

According to Wang, the ministry has progressively signed strategic cooperation deals with the nine provinces, and launched an effective partnership with the Hong Kong SAR government with regard to the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong railway network.

Enhanced regional cooperation is further driving railway network expansion. From 2004 to 2008, gross railway construction investment in the PPRD region amounted to 241.5 billion yuan (US$35.36 billion), accounting for 29.7 percent of the entire country's investment in this sector. Over the same period, the region extended the railway network by 908 km in addition to 277 km of double-track railway and 1,220 km of electrified line.

Wang Zhiguo also highlighted the problem: "Despite its rapid development, the railway network and transportation capability in the Pan-Pearl River Delta region is still insufficient compared to the demands for advancing local economy and of the large migrating population."

The railway ministry's new plan to expand the railway system in the coming three years serves one solution to the problem, according to Wang.

(China.org.cn June 11, 2009)