The Ganqimaodu-Hailiutu section of the Ganwu Expressway started construction on Oct 18, according to a report from Xinhua.

The Ganwu Expressway is an important expressway included in the "Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Expressway Network Plan (2019-2030)". 

The expressway starts from the Ganqimaodu port in the north and ends at the Wula Mountain exit of the Beijing-Lhasa Expressway in the south. The entire expressway is located within Bayannuur city in North China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

It has a planned total length of 228 kilometers, and will be built with an investment of 11 billion yuan ($1.59 billion). Of these totals, the Ganqimaodu-Hailiutu section is 131 km long with an investment of 5.5 billion yuan.

Ganwu expressway is the first expressway constructed in Bayannuur using the PPP (public-private partnership) model. When opened to traffic, it will serve the Belt and Road Initiative and the construction of the China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor.

It will also play an essential role in supporting the autonomous region’s implementation of the northward opening-up strategy and the acceleration of Bayannuur city’s efforts to construct the China-Mongolia International Mining Energy Cooperation Pilot Zone.

In addition to the construction of the new expressway, the Bayannuur section of the 331 National Highway opened to traffic on Oct 18 after a three-year construction period.

The 402-km Bayannuur section starts at the Wuzhuer in Urad Middle Banner and ends at Beiyingen in Urad Rear Banner.

Bayannuur is located near the northern borders of China, giving it obvious transportation advantages. It is an important transportation hub connecting North China to the Chinese northwestern region and Mongolia.

The total mileage of highways in Bayannuur city reaches about 23,000 km.