IN BRIEF (Page 8)

Beijing

China completing road expansion

China will complete work on nearly 4 million kilometers of roads by the end of this year, connecting 99 percent of the country's towns and 93 percent of its villages, Minister of Transportation Yang Chuantang announced at a conference in Gansu province on Monday. China invested 326.5 billion yuan ($51 billion) during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) so far on rural road construction, creating more than 2.9 million jobs for rural migrant workers, Yang said. About 1 million km of roads have been built or renovated in rural areas, he said.