Infrastructure

Over the years, Yunnan has been increasing its infrastructure construction throughout the province. Great progress has been made in the construction of airport facilities, railways, highways, waterways, post and telecommunication services and electric power, thus creating more favorable conditions for Yunnan to accelerate its economic development and open wider to the outside world.

In the next several years, Yunnan will continue to strengthen its infrastructure construction and strive to further develop its communication systems in order to establish a modern, overall transportation system covering highways as the basis, railways as the trunk, airports and air routes as the auxiliary and water transport as the supplementary.

Electric Power
By the end of 2003, installed power generating capacity in Yunnan totaled 10,400 MW. Total power generated in 2003 amounted to 47.48 billion kilowatt-hours. There was increase of 21% over 2002. It is planned that production scale of hydropower in the whole province would have reached more than 9 million KW till 2010, of which, more than half are from medium and small hydropower stations. In the next 17 years, Yunnan will invest RMB 250 billion to increase their hydropower capacity.
Yunnan has over 600 rivers forming 6 major river basin systems: Dulong ( Irrawaddy), Nu (Salween), Lancang (Mekong), Jinsha (Yangtze), Zhu ( Pearl ), Yuan and Lixian (both flow into the Red River in Vietnam ). The province has 24% of China ’s hydropower potential. The Nu, Lancang and Jinsha rivers have major hydropower potential. The province already provides about 10% of China ’s hydropower, but a large increase in generation is planned to feed into national and regional grids.
The province’s energy capacity exceeds its own demand and therefore, in relation to the Western Region Development Strategy also exports energy to neighboring provinces as Guangdong and Tibet .

Mekong Region hydropower potential

Source: Plinston and He Daming 1999:26

Waterway Transport
Although Yunnan does not have any seaports because it is a landlocked province, its has six major river systems: the Dulong ( Irrawaddy ), Nu (Salween), Lancang (Mekong), Jinsha (Yangtze), Zhu ( Pearl ), Yuan and Lixian (both flow into the Red River in Vietnam ), and over 30 lakes. The total length of navigable river channels in the province amounts to around 8,000km. At present, the length of inland navigation is 1,324 km. Major waterways are the Jingsha and Lancang Rivers and the main ports are Shuifu, Suijiang, Jinghong, Simao and Dali. Jinghong and Simao Ports have now been formally opened for business following national inspection and approval.
Jingmao port administers 2 wharfs and has a handling capacity of 100.000 ton freight and 400.000 persons. Simao port administrates 4 wharfs and has a handling capacity of 100.000 ton freight and 500.000 persons.
To meet the needs of regional economic cooperation and development, the governments of China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand signed a Commercial Navigation Agreement on the Lancang-Mekong River in April 2002, formally launching international navigation on the river.
Between 2006 and 2011 Yunnan is planning to invest RMB 367.50 million in the construction of shipping channels which will help strengthen economic cooperation between Yunnan Province and its neighboring countries.

Highways
Highways extend in all directions in Yunnan. A highway communication network has been established, with Kunming as the centre, inter-provincial highways and provincial roads as the framework, radiating throughout the province and connecting Yunnan with other provinces: Sichuan, Guizhou, Guangxi, and Tibet and neighboring countries including Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand.
The Kunming – Bangkok International Highway is a total of 1,805 km long. The section in Yunnan from Kunming to Mohan Port has been upgraded to expressway. This highway connects to the already existing highway Bangkok – Kuala Lumpur – Singapore . This results in a good road connection from Beijing all the way to Singapore . It is expected that this connection will expand opportunities and trade.
The construction of international highways has strengthened contacts between China and ASEAN countries. These highways will play a significant role in the development of the pillar industries in Yunnan and promote the process of building Yunnan into an international gateway connecting China with Southeast and South Asian countries.

From 2006 to 2011 priority will be given to the construction of 8 highways and upgrading of 6 existing major highways, to increase the ratio of high grade highways to around 2.6% of the total road length in the province, and to increase the overall standard of the highway network.

Railway Transport
The main rail links in Yunnan run from Guiyang to Kunming to Guiyang, Chengdu, Nanning, Kunming, Neijiang, Vietnam , Yuxi, Guangtong and Dali. Construction of the Dali to Lijiang Railway has been completed at the end of 2009 and the first-phase of preparation work for the Trans-Asian Railway connecting Yunnan with Southeast Asian countries is now being carried out.
The construction of the Chinese section of the Kunming – Bangkok railway has been completed. This will connect Yunnan’s railway network with the Southeast Asian railway network, the Thai section in particular, bringing a new boost to railway construction of Yunnan.

Civil Aviation
Civil aviation in Yunnan has been developing rapidly in recent years. Yunnan Airlines now merged with China Eastern and now covers 103 international, domestic and regional air routes, of which 11 international and regional air routes connect Yunnan with Hong Kong and Macao autonomous regions and cities in neighboring countries, including Singapore, Bangkok, Seoul, Vientiane , Chiang Mai. In addition to Kunming International Airport, Yunnan also has ten feeder airports in Xishuangbanna, Mangshi, Simao, Zhaotong, Baoshan, Dali, Lijiang, Diqing and Lincang.
In order to carry out the plan to strengthen Yunnan as an international gateway, the first-phase in the preparation work for the new Kunming International Airport is now under way and two further feeder airports in Wenshan and Honghe are under construction.

The new international airport in Kunming will be China 's fourth-largest airport hub, according to an official from the Kunming Airport Economic Zone Management Committee cited by China Hospitality News. The new airport will be located 21 km northeast of Kunming, making it more accessible to citizens of Qujing - Yunnan's second largest city - than Kunming Wujiaba Airport , which is located south of downtown Kunming.
The new airport's construction will be accompanied by road network infrastructure improvements enabling anyone living within a 200-kilometer radius to reach the airport within two hours. A 160-square kilometer Airport Economic Zone will also be built adjacent to the airport.
It seems that Kunming is looking to bring in the foreign expertise it needs to build an airport that will help it make the quantum leap from up-and-coming provincial capital to regional trade and transport hub. It has awarded UK-based design and engineering consultancy Arup the airport's design contract. Moreover, German company Fraport - which owns Frankfurt Airport - has been reported to be in talks to buy a stake in the US$1.9 billion airport project. They planned to have the airport up and running by 2010 but recently published information claims that 2015 is more likely.

Kunming Airlines, a new airline, made its maiden flight on February 15th from Kunming to Harbin , using a flight number of Shenzhen Airlines, which holds an 80-percent interest in the company.
Kunming Airlines will operate flights within Yunnan Province and also routes connecting Kunming and other cities. The airline will gradually introduce flights between Kunming and ASEAN countries.
According to its development plan, the airline will assemble a fleet of 30 to 40 planes and establish an extensive flight network throughout Yunnan by 2010. It will establish routes to all provincial capitals and developed cities mainly on the east coast, connecting these cities with top Southeast Asian destinations.
By 2015, it will establish a fleet of 80 to 100 planes and set up hubs in Xi'an and Guangzhou while boosting its trunk and branch routes.
By 2022, it will expand to 150 to 200 planes, similar to the present size of its parent company, according to its 15-year strategic plan.