Henan Province Tollway

A 136km (84ml) tollway in Henan province China seems likely to get World Bank support following a favorable staff appraisal. The $606m project extends an existing toll expressway westward from Luoyang to Sanmenxia parallel to and south of the Yellow River. This “Luoyang Sanmenxia Expressway” (LSE) will be the 15th toll highway project in China to be financed by the World Bank among almost $2 billion of loans for ongoing roadworks.

By about 2001 there should be 720ml (1160km) of expressway conditions from the port of Lianyuang (due west across the Yellow Sea from the far southwestern tip of the Korean peninsula) west through Jiangsu, Shandong, and Henan provinces into the center of Shaanxi to the cities of Xi’an and Weinan. Later it would be extended 2,400ml (4,000km) through the enormous Xinjiang province to the far northwest borders of Kazakistan near Alma Ata.

China may see more highway construction in the next 25 years than any other country. Over 20,000 miles (30,000km) of toll expressway are planned. Work is moving ahead simultaneously on about ten 100km-plus expressway projects, most of which involve tolls. Most are parts of a national grid of four north-south and five east-west expressway corridors planned by the central government. They will be integrated with major urban beltways and a number of spectacular bridges. Until recently the Chinese government favored railways and did little for the roads, most of which remain overcrowded narrow 2 lane surface highways with a dizzying array of animal drawn carts, bicycles, farm tractors and pedestrians mixing it with motor cyclists, cars, trucks and buses.

Although China has only about 10m motor vehicles over 60,000 people die annually in road accidents, half as many against as in the U.S. with 180m motor vehicles. Much of the blame is placed on outdated all-purpose roads carrying highly varied traffic of such different speeds. The World Bank sees backward roads as one of the major obstacles to China’s economic modernization and as the key to opening opportunities for better paying work in isolated inland areas. It sees expressways as the key to further development of light industry, which depends on transporting parts and products efficiently. The Bank wants to see interprovincial trade opened with expressways to facilitate the creation of a national market, and improved access to ports from the inland — to make market reforms succeed.

The LSE follows the huge Yellow River closely and requires some 44 large bridges and 220 grade separations and underpasses in its 136km. It will have 7 interchanges. The project involves extensive upgrading of the roads leading to the expressway interchanges. Most of the LSE proper will be on embankment and the Bank staff express concern about Chinese standards of compaction, drainage and pavement construction. Chinese bridge construction is considered excellent but pavement often breaks down within a few years. In this case 35cm of sub-base will be covered with 20cm of flyash-stabilized macadam base course topped with 16cm of asphalt.

Expressways are justified in China by truck traffic and traffic is usually measured in medium truck equivalents (MTE) with 7,700 to 12,900 mte/day expected in 2000 and some 30,000 in 2020. A number of expressways are being built in China with only a single 2-lane carriageway/roadway to start. The western end of the LSE is being in this fashion but the rest is estimated to need the full 4-lane divided configuration soon after opening.

Rate of return on equity is estimated in the range 10 to 25%. A few investor groups have built tollroads in China but most are being built by provincial governments with loans. Foreign consultants, often Italian, Japanese and French jave been involved in some aspects of design and review. (Contact World Bank Public Info Center tel 202 458 5454, financial analyst Rita Pasi 202 458 4031)