Project Name China-Shanghai-Zhejiang
Highway Project
Region East
Asia and Pacific
Sector Transportation
Project ID CNPA3569
Implementing Agencies
Shanghai Municipality
Mr.
Zhou Qiu Chun
Vice
Director
Shanghai
Municipal Engineering
Administration
Dept.
193,
Hangkow Road
Shanghai,
China
Tel:
(86 21) 323 2818 or 323 2743
Fax:
(36 21) 321 8433
Zhejiang
Province
Mr.
Cai Ti Leng
Deputy
Director
Zhejiang
Expressway Project
Executive
Commission
179,
Ti Yu Street
Hangzhou
310006, China
Tel:
(86 571) 553 101, ext. 582
Fax:
(86 571) 574 166
Date Prepared
February 1994
Projected Board Date July
1994
Available
Project Documents
1. Country/Sector
Background. China has enjoyed strong economic growth
since the opening of its doors to the outside world in the late
1970s. Annual growth in the most advanced eastern provinces
has recently accelerated to double-digit rates, stimulated by
an increasingly rapid transition to a market economy. This
strong economic growth has placed severe pressure on the transport
sector, to the extent that inadequate transport facilities are
constraining growth in some important corridors.
2. To
identify the key transport issues in China, the Bank has undertaken
two major regional transport studies, the Guangdong Province Transport
Study (GPTS) completed jointly with Guangdong Province and the
Beijing Institute of Comprehensive Transport in 1991, and the
Yangtze Economic Zone Transport Study (YEZTS) completed jointly
with the State Planning Commission (SPC) in 1992 covering the
industrial heartland of China around the mouth of the Yangtze
River. YEZTS is of particular relevance to this project
since both Zhejiang Province and Shanghai Municipality are part
of the YEZTS study region (together with the Provinces of Jiangsu
and Anhui).
3. The
GPTS and YEZTS helped to establish the current Bank and Government
view of the priorities in the transport sector for
China as a whole. These can be broadly
summarized as: (a) increase the total level of transport investment
in relation to GDP; (b) improve the balance of investments among
the major transport modes of railway, highway and water by closer
attention to economic priorities; (c) progressively realign the
prices of transport services to bring them closer to true costs,
thereby reducing modal pricing distortions; (d) increase productivity
of existing assets through technological modernization and management
reforms; and (e) improve investment decisions through better analysis
of economic priorities under budget constraints.
4. Chinese
planners in the past have tended to favor the rail mode for both
passenger and freight transport. Through the Seventh
and Eighth Five Year Plans (1981-1990), rail accounted for nearly
50 percent of all public investment in transport. However, while
substantial additional investments in the rail mode are required
to alleviate continuing capacity constraints, both the GPTS and
YEZTS concluded that the size and to a considerable extent the
changing nature of transport demand has emphasized the importance
of other modes of transport. In particular, air and
motorized highway transport, the two major transport innovations
of the 20th Century, should be the focus of major capacity expansion
programs. Air passenger transport has a key role in
serving the needs of long distance business and tourist passenger
transport. Highway transport, with its strength in
flexibility, relatively small consignments, and short to medium
hauls, is well suited to the freight transport needs of light
industry; this is the principal activity of the Township and Village
Enterprises (TVEs) which now account for over 50 percent of China's
industrial output in some east coast provinces. As
well as the development of air transport and highways, there is
also a need to maintain the traditional role of water transport
which is the dominant mode for bulk transport which could otherwise
swamp the road and rail networks.
5. Project
Objectives. The project is designed to make a direct
contribution to most of the priority issues identified for the
highway sector above. Three major objectives can be
identified:
i) to increase highway capacity in order
to promote economic development, in particular constructing an important
link of the China strategic high class highway system;
ii) to improve road safety in Northern Zhejiang; and
iii) to develop highway sector institutional capability
in Zhejiang and Shanghai through training and procurement of equipment.
6. Project
Description. The project is expected to comprise the
following components:
Shanghai-Hangzhou Expressway. A 131 km, 4-lane expressway,
linking Shanghai and Hangzhou ($764 mil). This expressway
was recommended by YEZTS; since that study, growth in highway
traffic has accelerated, thus significantly strengthening
the economic priority. The project also includes
upgrading of 56 km of local access roads to the expressway.
Road Safety Program. A $31 million component to improve
safety on highways in the Shanghai-Hangzhou corridor after opening
the expressway. This component would be of a pilot
nature, focussed on the prefecture of Jiaxing in Zhejiang Province. The
main infrastructure component would be the upgrading in Jiaxing
Prefecture of 86 km of National Route 320 where 60% of all Jiaxing
road fatalities currently occur. Improvements include
provision of separate lanes for slow traffic, reconstruction or
widening of 82 bridges, and
improvements of 177 junctions. Training, technical
assistance and equipment/software components are also under consideration
to improve road safety institutional capabilities.
Training and Equipment. A component to modernize and
upgrade institutions in the highway sector though the provision
of domestic and overseas training, and the procurement of equipment
for research, infrastructure maintenance, and management
of operations.
7. Project Cost and Financing. Tentative
project costs and financing arrangements are shown below:
IBRD:
$270 million
Shanghai
Municipality: $173
Zhejiang
Province: $352
----
Total
$795 million
8. Project Implementation. The
proposed project would be carried out by Shanghai Municipality
and Zhejiang Province. The Road Safety Program component
would be implemented on a program basis with only the first package
of subprojects reviewed and evaluated at appraisal; subsequent
packages would be prepared during implementation and subject to
review and approval by the Bank according to agreed criteria to
be established at appraisal. The criteria would focus
on design standards to achieve greater traffic safety, but would
also encompass procurement, environment and resettlement requirements.
10. Environmental
Aspects. The project is an Environmental Category A
project. An environmental assessment (EA) has been
prepared for both the Zhejiang and Shanghai sections of the Shanghai-Hangzhou
Expressway. The main issues concern involuntary
resettlement and community severance, both of which have been
minized to the extent possible in design. Environmental
Action
Plans (EAPs) are in preparation by Shanghai and Zhejiang, with
guidance from Bank experts, to specify procedures to avoid and
ameliorate environmental problems during both the construction
and expressway operation phases, including specification of monitoring
procedures for both phases. Preliminary estimates of
resettlement indicate that some 13,000 persons might be affected.
Contact Point:
Public Information Centre
The World Bank
1818 H Street N.W.
Washington D.C. 20433
Telephone No.: (202)458-5454
Fax No.: (202)522-1500
Note: This is information
on an evolving project. Certain components may not
necessarily be included in the final project.
