The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) will bolster the development of air transportation in central China, its deputy head Yang Guoqing said during the recent Expo Central China 2009 held in Hefei, Anhui province.

Airports in capital cities of all the six provinces in central China -- Shanxi, Henan, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi and Anhui -- are to undergo renovation or expansion by 2010.

The railway network is also being upgraded. According to Lu Dongfu, vice head of the Ministry of Railways, new lines totalling 16,000km in length are to be built before 2020 to extend the region’s railway network to 34,000km. By then, railway density will increase from 175km to 331km per 10,000 sq km, twice the national average.