August 22, 2007 -- According to the Spring City Evening News, at the recently held Country Highway Inspection Meeting, Changsheng Zhang, director of the Provincial Highway Bureau announced the signing of a formal guarantee regarding the completion of the 20,000 km highway project in Yunnan's countryside before the end of 2007.

Last year, restructuring and construction of over 4,000 km of roadways had been completed, bringing the highway access rate in Yunnan's administrative villages to over 55.45 percent. However, financial constraints and the onset of the rainy season left the project incomplete. The number of projects set for completion in 2006 was 60, but only 11 were completed. Forty six are to be completed by the end of 2007, and the rest will be completed before the rainy season begins in 2008.

To date, transportation ready highways in Yunnan's countryside have reached 173,000 km in length, Spring City Evening News added.