Centuries after it disintegrated with the decline of the Mongol empire and the rise of sea power, the old Silk Road is to be reinvented in a network of highways and arteries linking the remote desert of northwest China with cities in Europe, the Middle East and Russia.
China on Friday unveiled plans to build thousands of kilometers of roads to create a network that would broadly follow the ancient route linking old trading hubs such as Samarkand in Uzbekistan and Merv in Turkmenistan. The vast transport system is a crucial element in Beijing's strategy to tighten trade links with the oil and gas-rich countries of central Asia.
The longest new motorway, Asian Highway One, will stretch more than 5,000km from Urumqi in China's northwest region of Xinjiang to Istanbul in Turkey, Xinhua news agency said. Once completed in 2010, its route will take it through areas rich with untapped resources, including Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, and Mashhad in Iran. Eleven other roads will link Xinjiang to Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan, the report said, citing the transportation department of Xinjiang.
The plan is part of an ambitious road map for Asia drawn up two years ago by China, Japan and 30 other nations. That 140,788km network of motorways, bridges and ferry routes will connect the trans-European landmass as never before -- surpassing the old Silk Road.
China is at the heart of the network. In addition to existing roads, it is building more than 15,000km of new highways. The primary motivation is to boost trade with neighboring countries and raise living standards in the far west.
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