Lijiang-Chengdu Highway's construction on schedule

The Lijiang-Chengdu Highway's construction plan has been approved by the environment assessment, and construction will start in January 2015.

The Lijiang-Chengdu Highway runs 169km from Lijiang to Chengdu with a construction budget of more than 29 billion yuan ($4.6 billion).

The highway is expected to open in December 2018. It will take only 10 hours to travel from Chengdu to Lijiang.

According to the environment assessment, the construction of the Lijiang-Chengdu Highway will help with poverty relief in the Tibet autonomous region and Yunnan's poor mountainous area.

The environmental protection department will make another environment assessment three to five years after the construction starts, to see if the construction has negative influences on scenic spots and resident drinking water.

By Ge Jieru and edited by Michael Thai