The World Bank has approved a loan of 180 million U.S. dollars for the Sichuan Urban Development Project, which involves four medium-sized cities in inland China.

The project aims to improve core urban functions in four second-tier cities in west China's Sichuan Province -- Mianyang, Suining, Yibin, and Panzhihua -- by removing bottlenecks that hamper land development, and undermine progress in transport and the environment, the bank said in a statement.

The four cities selected for World Bank assistance under the Project are key, fast expanding medium-sized cities in the province.

These cities face similar problems: high population density, land scarcity, inadequate transport systems, environmental deterioration, inadequate planning, and a lack of resources to make the city function efficiently.

The funds will be used to build roads and bridges, river embankments, wastewater collection systems and sewerage, drainage infrastructure and landscaping, said the bank.

The World Bank said it will also provide technical assistance to support institutional development in the cities concerned. It will help the municipalities improve urban planning, land management, transport, utility and asset management. Management information systems (MIS) and geographical information systems (GIS) will be provided.

Two other agencies within the World Bank Group, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), will help the project cities enhance their competitiveness by promoting development and industrial links, and improving their investment climate.

Sichuah is the most important hinterland province in west China and the locomotive driving development in that part of the country, the bank said. It accounts for one-third of the population and the gross domestic product of China's Western Region.

The province's strategy is to focus on the development of medium-sized secondary cities, requiring them to grow quickly and quickly adjust their urban infrastructure base.

Urbanization drives structural transformations and fast economic growth in China. China's cities and towns generate more than 60 percent of the country's gross domestic product.

China's urban areas will gain about 425 million people over the next 30 years. In China's Western Region, urbanization growth is expected to come primarily from the expansion of medium-sized cities.

Source: Xinhua