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Management rights to an expressway linking three major cities in east China's Anhui province have been sold for 1.9 billion yuan (229 million US dollars), blazing a new trail for collecting funds for provincial expressway development.

A transfer contract for the expressway management rights was signed in Hefei, capital of Anhui, between the Anhui Provincial Expressway Corporation and the Shanghai-based Orient Holdings Co. Ltd.

The 100-km expressway linking the three cities of Hefei, Caohu and Wuhu provided an artery leading to the coastal developed areas of the Yangtze River delta and Fujian province, said Wang Shui, general manager of the expressway corporation.

It would also be a major link in the planned Yangtze River Delta Transport Network, he added.

Management rights to the expressway were allocated through public bidding. The Orient Holdings Co. Ltd that won the bid with a price of 1.9 billion yuan (229 million US dollars), will channel another 600 million yuan (72.3 million US dollars) into renovation and maintenance of the expressway.

According to the provincial communications department, Anhui had built 866 km of expressways by the end of 2002.

In the next five years, the province planned to build an additional 1,100 km of expressways, the source said.

To ease the strain on capital, the provincial authorities have vowed to expand fund collection channels in a bid to stimulate expressway development.