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Ningxia Highway Project

LOCATION
Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China
OWNER/IMPLEMENTATION UNIT
Ningxia Transport Department
KEY WORDS
Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region; expressway; rural roads; network improvement
PROJECT COMPLETION/EXPECTED COMPLETION DATE
June 2015
CASE DESCRIPTION

As of project appraisal in 2009, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region was one of China’s poorest provinces; 10 percent of its 6 million people lived below the poverty line. Almost two-thirds of its population lived in rural areas and urban per capita income was three times higher than that of rural residents. Lack of transport accessibility hindered Ningxia’s socio-economic development, as rural residents were poorly connected with employment centers. The objective of the Ningxia Highway Project was to provide high-capacity and quality transport connections between targeted zones and urban areas as well as develop all-weather road access in selected rural areas.

This project included three parts. The first component was a new expressway connecting Guyaozi and Qingtongxia, two major industrial areas in the east and west of the province. Integrated development and connection of these industrial areas was important to Ningxia’s development strategy. The Guyaozi-Qingtongxia Expressway (GQE) would bisect nine major national and provincial highways. The second component was a road network improvements program to improve connections to key industrial and agricultural areas and to upgrade the feeder network to the existing expressway network. The third component provided technical assistance to strengthen the institutional capacity of Ningxia in the transport sector. It included the following: (a) conducting a study on road safety, a study for developing an optional long-term strategy for road maintenance, and a study for developing a comprehensive plan for the transport logistics industry in Ningxia; (b) providing training on issues related to the transport sector in Ningxia; and (c) purchasing and utilizing road maintenance equipment in Ningxia.

The GQE significantly improved travel times and transit safety along the Guyaozi-Qingtongxia corridor. The expressway construction and other road improvements financed by this project increased the number of rural residents with access to all-weather roads.

KEY DATA

A 75-kilometer expressway was constructed between Guyaozi and Qingtongxia, 65 kilometers of National Highway 211 between Lingwu and Jiajiajuan was improved, and 38 rural roads totaling 523 kilometers were upgraded to paved Class IV standard. Traffic volume (14,487) on the expressway was 10 percent higher than the project target (13,170) and traffic diversion from the three existing roads to the GQE was 3 to 15 percent greater than the project target. Travel time between Guyaozi and Qingtongxia decreased from 120 minutes on existing roads to 38 minutes on the expressway. Traffic safety improved with the construction of the expressway. Compared to baseline data from existing roads, accidents decreased 50 percent on both the Lingwu-G307 (from 12 to 6 accidents) and Wuzhong-Wulingqing (from 8 to 4 accidents) sections of the corridor. An additional 240,000 people in rural areas had access to all-weather roads as result of this project.

The cities and counties along the GQE benefited from the expressway and their gross domestic product (GDP), particularly from the manufacturing industry, enjoyed a more rapid growth than other parts of the province. For example, Wuzhong and Qingtongxia, two cities located at the terminus of the GQE, had GDP growth rates around 11 percent in 2013, while the average of Ningxia Province was 9.8 percent in the same period.

PROJECT-RELATED PARTIES
Not applicable.
CURRENT PROGRESS
The project was completed in 2015.
INNOVATION POINT

An expressway connecting cities and industrial zones diverted freight transport from existing roads, reduced travel times and accidents, and facilitated economic development.

Application of local experiences on ecological protection is also good practice. For example, at the GQE section crossing Baijitan, extensive “grass-squares” were used to stabilize sands and slopes through fixing straw squares into sandy ground, followed by planting local grass seeds inside the squares. After several years of special maintenance, vegetation could gradually developed and persist inside these squares. This technique has been practiced in northwestern China steppe areas for several decades and proved effective in controlling mobile sands.

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