Tollways overloaded with debt

BEIJING - Traffic authorities in the capital said on Saturday the city's toll roads are still in heavy debt, as one-third of the tolls collected from highways were paid as interest to creditors who financed construction of the roads.

Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport, the city's traffic watchdog, said on its website that at the end of 2010 there were 816 km of toll roads in the city, with unpaid loans worth as much as 44 billion yuan ($7 billion).

Although 6 billion yuan was raised from motorists using the roads last year, 2 billion yuan of that was paid to creditors as interest, according to a financial statement issued by the commission.