IN BRIEF (Page 10)

Beijing retail sales up

Retail sales of consumer goods hit 400 billion yuan in the first 11 months in Beijing, exceeding last year's total of 380 billion yuan.

The Olympics were a major factor in the boom, according to the municipal bureau of commerce.

New Year, Spring Festival, the May Day holiday and National Day were also major driving forces for the retailing market.

Major retailers posted a sales volume of 2.94 billion yuan during the week-long National Day Holiday alone, up 16.7 percent from a year earlier.

World Bank loan for Wuhan

The World Bank will provide a $100 million loan to Wuhan, Hubei province by 2010 to facilitate its development of a transportation system, Chutian Metropolis Daily reported.

The newspaper quoted Jiang Yue, general engineer with Wuhan Municipal Engineering Design and Research Institute.

The loans cover public transportation, traffic management and security, road network improvement and technical assistance. They include measures, such as building bus-only lanes and parking lots.

New crude oil terminal

PetroChina has completed a crude oil terminal in Qinzhou, in southwestern China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, parent China National Petroleum Corp said.

The terminal, one of the supporting facilities of PetroChina's 10-million-ton-capacity refinery in Qinzhou, can accommodate one vessel of up to 100,000 dead load tons, the parent firm said.

The terminal includes two 100,000-ton-throughput crude berths and two oil products berths.

The Qinzhou refinery is designed to process crude oil sourced from CNPC's overseas oil projects, and is expected to come on stream this year.

Railway work underway

Work on a massive railroad project in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region is underway.

After construction of four railroads started in October, work on another 12 will begin at the beginning of next year.

The estimated cost of the railroads, which totaled 4,262 kms, will reach 196.2 billion yuan.

"A modernized railway network will be in place by the year 2016, with Nanning, the regional capital of Guangxi, as the center," said Li Hongqing, deputy chief of the regional office for railway construction. "The lines will link up to southwestern and central China, and to ASEAN member states."

Second Hangzhou bridge

Construction of the second bridge across the Hangzhou Bay started recently, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.

Spanning the Qiantang River, the Jiaxing-Shaoxing bridge is designed with six piers supporting an eight-lane roadway and will be the longest cable-stayed viaduct in the world upon completion.

The bridge, with a total length of 69.46 km, involves a total investment of 13.98 billion yuan and is scheduled to be completed by 2012.

The new bridge is expected to help facilitate the economic development in the Yangtze Delta Area.

Sichuan infrastructure plan

Sichuan province plans to set up an 80 billion yuan State-owned investment company to finance major infrastructure projects in the area due to damage caused by the May 12 earthquake.

The proposed Sichuan Development (Holding) Co Ltd will have an initial registered capital of 80 billion yuan, China Business News reported, citing a provincial circular issued on December 8.

The investment firm, which will serve as a financing base to help fund projects such as railway and other industries, and may have as much as 100 billion yuan in registered capital, Sichuan Vice-Governor Li Chongxi said on December 2.

(China Daily 12/22/2008 page10)