China plans railway expansion

China's Jiangxi province plans to invest CNY 116.52 billion (US$ 17 billion) in new railways over the next three years, according to state news agency Xinhua.

State officials have identified 14 projects to be finished by 2012, as part of a longer term project that will see the railways network reach all of the province's counties and major tourist and industrial areas by 2020.

The Chinese government has already said it would increase national spending on railway construction by +80% in 2009 to CNY 600 billion (US$ 87.9 billion) as part of a stimulus plan to boost domestic demand. The funding is part of a CNY 4 trillion (US$ 586 billion) stimulus package announced by the government in November.

The report did not say how much of the proposed spending in Jiangxi province was new money and how much was previously budgeted.