SHENZHEN officially started construction of Phase III of Metro Line 8 yesterday, the first Metro section linking Dapeng New Area.

This is one of the city’s 242 key third-quarter projects launched at a ceremony yesterday, which was attended by Guangdong Governor Ma Xingrui, Guangdong Executive Vice Governor Lin Keqing, and Shenzhen Mayor Qin Weizhong.

These projects have a total investment of 327.32 billion yuan (US$50.6 billion) and are comprised of 171 government-funded projects worth 130.14 billion yuan and 70 socially invested projects worth 197.18 billion yuan. They mainly cover public transportation, urban construction, industrial development and public well-being, to name a few.

Among them are 62 transportation projects, which will cost a total of 58.39 billion yuan.

Phase III of Metro Line 8 starts from Xiaomeisha Station in Yantian District on the line’s Phase II and ends at Xichong Station in Dapeng New Area. It runs about 3.7 kilometers and is expected to relieve traffic congestion on roads leading to Dapeng, especially during holidays and tourism peak seasons, and accelerate the economic development of eastern Shenzhen.

The city will also start the renovation of Wanghai Road, a major road linking Shekou in Nanshan District with the rest of the city.

The 8.7-kilometer project linking Xinghai Boulevard and Dongbin Road includes a 7.6-kilometer tunnel. It is expected to be able to improve traffic network efficiency in Qianhai and boost the economic and social development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Also yesterday, work on Xili Comprehensive Transport Hub in Xili Subdistrict in northern Nanshan District kicked off.

The project covers 62.5 hectares and will be a large-scale comprehensive transportation hub integrating high-speed railway, intercity rail and urban Metro services. Four high-speed railways — Ganzhou-Shenzhen High-speed Railway, Shenzhen-Maoming High-speed Railway, Shenzhen-Shenshan High-speed Railway and Shenzhen-Zhuhai High-speed Railway — will run through the hub. It will be the station where Metro Lines 13, 15, 27 and 29 will meet, and it will also link three intercity rails connecting Shenzhen with Huizhou, Dongguan and Zengcheng. In terms of size, the Xili hub will surpass Shenzhen North Railway Station.              (Han Ximin)