HOHHOT - Manzhouli, China's largest land port, is expected to see its annual highway cargo handling capacity climb to 10 million tons within the year from the current 3 million tons.

The improvement will be the result of the first-stage of a project aimed at upgrading road services of the port, which borders Russia to the north and also sits close to Mongolia, according to the government of Manzhouli city, North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

The first-phase construction will be finished by the end of October. With an estimated investment of 1.03 billion yuan ($159 million), the construction of the overall project started in 2015 and is scheduled to end in 2017.

More than 65 percent of overland trade between China and Russia passes through Manzhouli.