Desert expressway

　　A 76-km desert expressway, believed to be the first in the country, opened Wednesday in Shaanxi Province, Northwest China.

　　Running through the Mu Us desert, the new expressway connects Yulin city, Shaanxi province, with Manggaitu on the border between Shaanxi and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Built at a cost of 416 million yuan (US$50 million), it can carry vehicles traveling at speeds of up to 100 kilometers per hour.

　　Naval frigate visit

　　THE Australian Navy frigate “Sydney”, led by Commander Raydon W. Gates of the Australian Navy and Captain Daryl Bates, arrived in Qingdao Wednesday for a five-day goodwill visit.

　　This is the second time an Australian warship has visited Qingdao. An Australian fleet paid a goodwill visit to Qingdao in 1997.

　　Safety check

　　A NEW round of nationwide spot checks will soon be conducted to combat workplace accidents, the China Daily reported yesterday.

　　Citing sources at the State Administration of Work Safety, the paper said particular attention would be paid to small mines and factories and the dangerous chemicals industry.

　　Administration director Wang Xianzheng said workplace safety still loomed large as a serious challenge given that more than 75,000 people lost their lives in over 631,000 workplace accidents.

　　Subway project

　　CONSTRUCTION of the No.1 subway line in Shenyang City, capital of Northeast China’s Liaoning Province, is scheduled to begin in early June next year, the city government announced.

　　The subway line will run 22 km from Zhangshi station in the Shenyang Economic and Technological Development Zone in the west to Liming Cultural Palace in the east. There will be 18 stations along the route.

　　Gas pipeline

　　construction

　　CONSTRUCTION of the gas pipeline connecting the Changqing Oilfield, China’s largest gas field, with Hohhot, capital of North China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, started this week.

　　The pipeline will run through 66 villages in six banners (county level) and three cities with a total length of 497 km. Its construction will be completed in one year and at a cost of 840 million yuan (US$101 million).

　　The pipeline is designed to carry 950 million cubic meters of gas a year from the Changqing Oilfield. When the first gas station was pressurized, the annual capacity for gas transmission would rise to 1.3 billion cubic meters, said Yang Hu’en, chairman of the region’s Xibu (western part) Natural Gas Co. Ltd.