200b yuan earmarked for transport upgrade
Shanghai will complete 10 new metro lines by 2012 at a cost of 200 billion yuan, an official said yesterday, a sign the city is again pushing ahead with major infrastructure projects after the removal of its top leader last year.
The new metro lines will bring the number in Shanghai to 13, in a move to ease worsening traffic congestion, Ying Minghong, , deputy director of the city's metro construction headquarters, said.
Construction on some of the lines started in 2005. At the end of this year, the city will begin testing three new lines, and within five years will have more than 500km of lines.
Mr Ying said the work would displace only 12,500 households and 1,300 companies in 14 districts. Shanghai evicted more than 81,000 families for urban development last year alone.
Compensation levels for relocated families would differ.
'The amount should be verified in different districts during different periods. We will compensate them based on the market evaluation of housing prices,' he said.