2011-01-12 16:36

URUMQI - The economic growth rate of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region is likely to hit 10.5 percent in 2010, Xinjiang's Party Chief Zhang Chunxian said Wednesday.

The region's gross domestic product is likely to reach 5 trillion yuan ($757.58 billion) for 2010, he said.

Per capita disposable income of urban residents in Xinjiang rose 10 percent year-on-year to 13,500 yuan in 2010, while per capita net income of rural residents exceeded 4,600 yuan, up 700 yuan from a year earlier, Zhang said.

The region's urban-fixed investment rose 25 percent year-on-year to 353.9 billion yuan last year. Investment in transportation totaled 24.8 billion yuan, accounting for nearly 30 percent of the total investment in the sector from 2006 to 2010.

The region had 152,000 km of highways at the end of last year. Of which, 1,137 km are expressways. Moreover, highways in Xinjiang's rural areas totaled 103,000 km by 2010, Zhang said.

Zhang said the transportation industry would continue to be rapidly developed over the next five years.

Xinjiang will accelerate the building of roads to better connect the region to other parts of China and neighboring countries, expand the highway system and improve its transportation network during the 12th Five-Year Plan, which runs from 2011 to 2015, Zhang said.