China to launch controversial maglev extension in 2010

SHANGHAI: China plans to launch a controversial project to extend Shanghai's magnetic levitation train in 2010 after deferring it for years amid radiation concerns, reports by state media said.

The project, linking Shanghai to Hangzhou, the capital of east China's Zhejiang province, appeared on a list of construction plans of the provincial government, the Shanghai Securities News reported on Monday.

The planned maglev line, with a total length of 199.4 kilometres (125 miles), is longer than the 175 kilometres originally intended.

The Zhejiang part of the project, 103.6 kilometres long, will cost 22 billion yuan (3.2 billion dollars) and is scheduled to be constructed between 2010 and 2014, the report said. A report by the official Xinhua news agency late Sunday said it was still unclear why the stuttering project had been revived.

The project, which will extend the existing 30-kilometre-long maglev linking Shanghai's Pudong International Airport and the city's financial district, has spurred worries over radiation among local residents.

The authorities had suspended the extension, which was originally scheduled to be launched in 2007 and come into operation by 2010, when China's financial hub hosts the World Expo.

In January, thousands of locals took part in a protest march, fearing electromagnetic radiation from the extension could affect their health. But Shanghai officials have insisted the project is not harmful to the health of people living nearby.