China to build national ring road

The road will be a six-lane highway, routed just inside China's borders with its neighbours.

The total cost of the project is put at some CNY 3 trillion (US$ 440 billion). This is a higher cost per kilometre than usual for highway construction in China. According to government sources, this is due to the difficult terrain it will have to cross.

A Ministry of Transport spokesman said, "The most challenging stretch will be in Tibet, where we plan to tunnel under the entire Himalayan mountain range. This is a 2400 km long stretch of the road, and we will probably break it up into a couple of tunnels of no more than 700 km each."

Although plans are vague at present, the project would easily claim the title as the longest tunnel in the world. The current record holder is the 137 km Delaware Aqueduct in the US, while the longest passenger tunnel is the 54 km Seikan railway tunnel in Japan.

The spokesman added, "We want to get this built quickly, so we will probably order about 1000 hard rock tunnel boring machines (TBMs) and work on several hundred faces simultaneously."

As well as adding to China's transport infrastructure, the ring road is expected to be a major tourist attraction, with plans to include various sightseeing attractions along the route.

"For example, we plan to excavate a major underground stopping station under Mount Everest, and install a high-speed elevator up to a new viewing platform at the summit," said the official. "Up until now it took months to climb the mountain, and there was a huge risk of death. When this project is complete, everyone will be able to enjoy this wonder of nature, not just a few super-fit mountaineers."

Bidding process

The various contract packages are due to be put out to international tender later this month. In keeping with China's legendary speed of construction, the entire project is scheduled for completion by the end of 2012.

"We want this done quickly, and we think we can get the construction phase finished in about 18 months," said the ministry spokesman.

Even for a country with China's financial resources, the project represents a major investment. An official from the Ministry of Finance commented on how the scheme would be funded.

"We looked a private concessions," he said, "But at the end of the day we though public money would be the best route."

The spokesman continued, "Frankly we've got more foreign currency than we know what to do with, and the problem will only get worse now the world economy is bouncing back. We thought about offering to buy Greece or maybe New York to help with the West's deficit, but we decided we'd rather build new infrastructure of our own instead of buying something old and worn out."