Shanghai To Build Subway Lines Financed With Foreign Loans

Shanghai plans to build 120 miles of subway lines by 2010 as part of an ambitious mass transit program intended to ease congestion in the city of 15 million.

Zhu Husheng, party secretary of the Shanghai Metro Corp., said plans call for 10 subway lines and 10 light-rail lines, in addition to the existing single subway line, the official Business Weekly reported Sunday.

A second subway line already is under construction at a projected cost of $1.5 billion. The timetable for the rest of the expansion is unclear, the report said.

Much of the money to finance the mass transit program is coming from loans by foreign governments - $440 million from Germany, $59 million from the United States and $8 million from France.

The 16 miles of above-ground lines are to circle the outskirts of the city, according to the report.