The second desert highway in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region will be completed and put into use this July, according to the regional communications department.

Construction neared completion for the 424-km Alar-Hotan highway, the second to go through the Taklamakan Deserts in southern Xinjiang, said a source with the department.

The highway began construction in June 2005 with an investment of 834 million yuan (106 million U.S. dollars).

Xinjiang's first highway through the desert, 522 kilometers long and east to the second, opened to traffic in 1995. It is the world's longest desert highway.

Last year, the region built 12,000 kilometers of highways at a cost of 10 billion yuan (1.28 billion U.S. dollars), bringing its total length of highways to 143,000 kilometers.

Source: Xinhua