SHANGHAI, Oct. 28 (Xinhuanet)-- Shanghai will begin construction on a bridge and tunnel project to link Shanghai with Chongming, anisland on its outskirts, at the end of this year.

    Zhu Zhengbiao, vice magistrate of the Chongming county, said that the total lengthen of the cross-river project will be 25.5 kilometers. This is the world's longest project of its kind.

    The project is designed to start from the Pudong district of Shanghai, and extend across the Changxing island to Chenjia in Chongming county. The project includes a tunnel to cross the southern part of the Yangtze River, a bridge over the northern part of the Yangtze River.

    The total investment of the project will be about 12.3 billion yuan (about 1.49 billion US dollars), said Zhu.

    Located at the river mouth of the Yangtze River, the Chongming island covers an area of 1,200 kilometers, about one-fifth of the total land area of Shanghai.

    China's central government plans to turn the Chongming island into a model of ecotypic city of the country, and the Shanghai municipal government is also paying more attention to the island, with many infrastructure projects to be built within the island.

    Experts said the inconvenient traffic between Shanghai and the Chongming island once blocked the development of the island. The construction of the bridge and tunnel will help attract overseas investment and make the suburb a major channel of the Yangtze River Delta area.

    Zhu said in the future, the island will set up series of zoology protection areas and take strict measures to protect its natural resources. In addition, the island will also assort with the Shanghai urban area to explore sustained economic development.Enditem