In the 2007 fiscal year, the World Bank will issue 200 million U.S. dollars loans to support China's railway construction, said the State Development and Reform Commission in Beijing on Thursday.

The loans will be used to upgrade a railway linking the Liupanshui city in southwest China's Guizhou Province and Zhanyi county in Yunnan Province.

This section is an important part of the Shanghai-Kunming railway. The project will cost a total of 8.57 billion yuan (aboutUS$1.1 billion).

China plans to invest 1.25 trillion yuan to construct 17,000 kilometers of railway during its 11th Five-Year Plan period (2006-2010).

(Xinhua News Agency December 8, 2006)