The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $200m loan to China to help build an expressway and upgrade roads in the central region province of Anhui.

The loan will fund nearly 15% of the province’s $1.35bn road project, which is expected to benefit four million people in 14 counties by improving connectivity to commercial centres.

The project involves building a 139km-long expressway in the province’s northern region, renovating 452km of existing roads, improving village bus services and improving capacity in the province’s transport departments.

Anhui is a landlocked province in central China lying across the basins of the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River.