Zhejiang Expressway Company Limited

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In May 1997, the Zhejiang Expressway Company Limited placed over one billion H shares with a nominal value of RMB 1.00 each on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The public offering represented about 30% of the Company's equity. The remaining 70% remains with Provincial Investment Co, a PRC state-owned enterprise. The share offering raised about US$383 million. The Company has a 30 year concession contract with the Zhejiang Provincial government (signed on 24 March 1997) to construct and operate toll booths and to collect tolls on the 247.6km Shanghai-Hangzhou-Ningbo Expressway. The concession gives the company rights to adjust the tolls every three years to allow for inflation. The company also has land right to add an additional lane on each direction of the road. The Company has two fully-owned subsidiaries, one each for the 3.4km Hangzhou section of the Shanghai-Hangzhou Expressway and the 145km Hangzhou-Ningbo Expressway. The Company owns 51% of Jiaxing Co and Yuhang Co - the operators of the Jiaxing and Yuhang sections of the Shanghai-Hangzhou Expressway. The Hangzhou-Ningbo Expressway and the Hangzhou section of the Shanghai-Hangzhou Expressway was already open in early 1998. In May 1998, the Jiaxing section of the Shanghai-Hangzhou Expressway was expected to open by the year, along with the unopened section of the Yuhang section. The World Bank provided debt for the construction of the Hangzhou-Shanghai Expressway section through its Shanghai-Zhejiang Highway Project support (an US$ 260 million loan was approved in 1995). Previously, in 1992, the IBRD had approved an US$ 220 milion loan to finance the counstruction of the Hangzhou-Ningbo highway. None None