Qinglian Expressway, in which GZT(1052.hk) owns 23.63% in shares, has fully opened to road usage on 25th January 2011 due to the completion of upgrading construction in Lian Nan Section. Mr Li Xinmin , the Vice Chairman and General Manager of GZT, attended the ceremony.
Qinglian Expressway was upgraded from the original Qinglian Class 1 Highway, which was one of the first upgrading construction works of rural Class I Highway in nationwide. Being one of the most significant access to outside from the northern part of Guangdong Province, Qinglian Expressway starts from Jingkou in suburban area in Qinglian City and ends in Fengtou Ling located in the cross broader between Guangdong Province and Hunan Province. It is approximately 215 km long in total with four lanes in dual direction and maximum designed speed of 80~100 km per hour, passing Qingcheng area, Qingxin County, Yangshan County, Liannan County and Lianzhou City. Specifically, the Fengtou Ling-Lian Zhou Section plus Fengbu-Jingkou Section are about 188 km in total where has been applying expressway toll rate standard since July 2009. While for the Fengbu-Lianzhou Section (the Liannan Section) which is about 27 km long has been under construction works since March 2009, and due to the dedicate financial and labor supports from the two shareholders - Shenzhen Expressway and GZT, the construction work has been completed as expected.
With the full usage of Qinglian Expressway, the traffic pressure of Jing Zhu National Expressway could be effectively relieved and ensure the traffic safety before and during the Chinese New Year. Meanwhile, the length of toll collection has increased by 27 km and would effectively boost up the traffic volumes and toll revenue and Qinglian Expressway. What could be clearly foreseen in the near future is that, among all the JV projects, Qinglian Expressway would definitely become one of the new important profit contributors.