China may lower the population threshold for urban rail construction, "Economic Information Daily" reported Monday. At present, urban rail networks may only be built in cities with a population above 3 million, but a reduction of the threshold to 1.5 million is under consideration, the paper said.
Many Western countries set the threshold at only 1 million and the change is set to meet growing needs in many cities. The adjustment is expected to cost about 1 trillion yuan (150 billion U.S. dollars) across the country, as a large number of smaller cities will become eligibile, according to Li Xun, deputy head of the China Academy of Urban Planning and Design. The Ministry of Transport plans to oversee the spending of 4.7 trillion yuan on transport infrastructure by 2019.
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