Huang Huakuan, director of the Department of Communications under the government of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, said Monday that the projects would make the region's vast rural area accessible, covering 949 villages which are not linked by highways.

Huang blamed inaccessibility and lack of information for poverty and backwardness in some rural areas in the region.

Projects to build or upgrade 4,000 kilometers of highway would be launched this year to link the towns and villages by road, and expand sealed roads to 60 towns and top-grade highways to 50 more towns.

The director said bus services would be available between 80 percent of town and county seats by the end of this year.

Highways totaling 2,735 km have been connected in the past two years, making 1,805 villages accessible by car.

(Xinhua News Agency April 21, 2003)