North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is planning to invest 220 billion yuan (US$32.2 billion) in five years to improve its roads and highways, the local government said on Thursday.

Inner Mongolia, boasting extensive land, suffers insufficient high-quality road service especially in its sparsely inhabited rural areas, due to complicated geological conditions and high construction costs. Many villages in this vast region still have no access to asphalt roads.

The autonomous regional government plans to upgrade existing roads with an investment of 30 billion yuan this year. By 2013, all investment is set to be used in establishing road and highway networks in rural and urban areas.

The efforts are expected to enable 80 percent of its county-level localities to have smooth traffic access and set up modern highway networks in the urban areas, which will greatly facilitate local economic growth.

(Xinhua News Agency January 30, 2009)