OREANDA-NEWS. December 31, 2013. The Sichuan Branch of China Development Bank (CDB) has signed a RMB 4 billion-loan-contract recently with the Transportation Department of Sichuan Province to support the province's upgrading of rural highways between 2013 and 2015. So far, the first sum of RMB 1 billion has been granted.

 It is the largest sum of medium and long-term loan promised by CDB so far to support the rural highway projects in Sichuan, which will play an important role in further improvement of rural infrastructure, enhancing the level of integrated development of rural and urban areas and boosting the comprehensive development of rural areas in Sichuan.

In July this year, Sichuan Provincial Government released its Opinions on Promoting the Integrated Urban and Rural Development in 2013 which clearly demanded to continue strengthening construction of urban and rural highway networks and specified the rural highway improvement projects between 2013 and 2015 with a key investment of RMB 8 billion to upgrade 10,000 kilometers of rural highway networks that spread across 121 counties and towns of 18 cities and prefectures in Sichuan.

As the leading bank in financing highway construction across the province, the Sichuan Branch of CDB has made improvement of rural highways its major project of this year. To cater to these projects' urgent needs for funds to carry out construction, the Sichuan Branch of CDB has opened "green channels" to give them priorities in appraisal, approval and scale of loans. From Sichuan Provincial Government's approval of the rural highway upgrading project to receiving the first sum of RMB 1 billion of the loan, it only took less than three months, a record speed for highway projects to receive loans in Sichuan.

Since 2005, CDB has committed to providing RMB 8.64 billion in support of rural highway construction in Sichuan, of which RMB 5.64 billion has been granted. So far, over 50,000 kilometers of rural highway in Sichuan has been constructed and renovated or is to be upgraded in Sichuan.