The government of Heilongjiang province in northeastern China has confirmed that construction on a cross-border highway bridge link ing the city of Heihe and Blagoveshchensk.
中国东北黑龙江政府已证实，连接黑河与布拉戈维申斯克的一条跨境公路桥即将动工。
The 19.9-kilometer bridge will be the first cross-border bridge over the boundary river that separates the countries, the Heilongjiang River (or Amur River), with 6.5 kilometers in China and 13.4 kilometers in Russia.
With investment of nearly 2.5 billion yuan, the project is expected to be completed in three years and will be officially open to traffic in October, 2019.
The notion of building the bridge was first put forward by both countries in 1988. However, establishment of a construction fund proved to be a significant obstacle and prevented the project moving forward.
In a bid to tackle the problem, Heilongjiang government in 2013 proposed to establish a joint venture company between the two countries to attract loans and then pay back the loans using bridge tolls.
In September 2015, a protocol on building the bridge was signed between China and Russia and one year later the Heilongjiang government in China and the Amur state government in Russia inked a contract with the China-Russia joint venture Company. According to the contract, the company will be responsible for construction management, operation and maintenance of the bridge as well as charging fees and returning loans.
Trips across the two sides are expected to be doubled to nearly 1.5 million in 2020 and freight volume is also expected to increase 10-fold, reaching over 3 million tons.
相关单词：joint
joint解释：adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合
joint例句：
I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。
相关单词：tolls
tolls解释：（缓慢而有规律的）钟声( toll的名词复数 )； 通行费； 损耗； （战争、灾难等造成的）毁坏
tolls例句：
A man collected tolls at the gateway. 一个人在大门口收通行费。
The long-distance call tolls amount to quite a sum. 长途电话费数目相当可观。
相关单词：protocol
protocol解释：n.议定书，草约，会谈记录，外交礼节
protocol例句：
We must observe the correct protocol.我们必须遵守应有的礼仪。
The statesmen signed a protocol.那些政治家签了议定书。
