The Manila-based Asian Development Bank says it will provide a $500,000 grant for a major highway project in northeastern China.
The money will be used to upgrade or build more than half of the 828-kilometer Jixi-Nehe highway, located in the province of Heilongjiang, bordered by Russia on the north and North Korea on the east.
The ADB says the road project will boost the province's economy. Heilongjiang has the largest cultivated land area in China along with heavy industry and timber resources. It is heavily dependent on foreign trade.
The bank says inadequate transportation conditions in the province also hurt the rural poor by restricting their access to basic goods and services.