Sir - As I have responsibility for the railway activities undertaken by the Transport & Tourism Division of the United Nations Economic & Social Commission for Asia & the Pacific (RG 11.05 p728), the report on China’s completion of a feasibility study for a link between Dali and Ruili was of great interest to me (RG 7.07 p381).
The article puts the price of construction at a staggering 190bn yuan or US$23·8bn. I realise that we are talking of about 630 km of lines through extremely mountainous topography, but this is nevertheless way too high. I wonder whether the ’0’ should not be deleted.
Pierre Chartier
Economic Affairs Officer, Transport & Tourism Division, Unescap
BangkokThailand
The correct price for this project is reported to be 10bn yuan, and not 190bn as published.
