SHENZHEN'S planning bureau will push for an early start of the construction on Metro Line 2 and 5 within the year, the Daily Sunshine said yesterday (Jan 17).

The bureau also pledged to speed up the work on the extended part of Metro Line 1 and 4 as well as Line 3 this year.

Metro Line 2 will extend 14.35 kilometers across Nanshan District from Shekou to Window of the World, where it will join Metro Line 1. With 10 underground stations and another above the ground, Line 2 will cost 5.59 billion yuan (US$690 million).

Metro Line 5 will link the Shenzhen West Railway Station in Nanshan District with Tangkeng in eastern Longgang District, and will extend 38.2 kilometers to join Metro Line 4 at Longhua in Bao'an District. With three elevated stations and eight others on the ground, this project will cost 5.1 billion yuan.

When both lines are completed in 2010, the Metro system will be able to link its two suburban districts to the four within the special economic zone. The expanded Metro will offer speedy public transport to all major commercial and residential areas in the city.

The planning bureau also revealed at a work meeting Monday that it will focus on the construction of a passenger-only railway linking Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong, and another railway from Hangzhou in East China's Zhejiang Province to Fuzhou, capital of Fujian Province, which terminates in Shenzhen.

Other key infrastructure projects for this year include a new railway station in Longhua, a container-processing center in southern Pinghu and several expressways in the outskirts of Shenzhen.

Editor: Wing