(Yicai Global) Nov. 20 -- China's top economic planner has approved plans for a CNY42.1 billion (USD6 billion) expansion of Urumqi Airport, a key hub along the country's Belt and Road global trade plan.

The National Development and Reform Commission gave the thumbs up for the enlargement of the port, based in the capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Urumqi, in a notice posted online yesterday. Construction is scheduled for completion by 2030.

Western China, where Urumqi is located, is much less developed than the country's wealthy east -- which is home to cities like Beijing and Shanghai. But infrastructure construction in the west has accelerated in recent years as Xinjiang is considered a critical hub along the route of the Belt and Road Initiative.

President Xi Jinping drew up the multi-billion dollar trade plan in 2013 and hopes to build a vast trade and infrastructure route encompassing roads, rails, pipes and waterways in multiple continents over the next 30 to 40 years.

The expanded airport is expected to handle 63 million passengers and 750,000 tons of cargo and mail each year once completed, the statement said. Its interim goal is to have the capacity to transport 48 million passengers and 550,000 tons of cargo by 2025.

Some 70 percent of the investment will come from existing capital, including CNY3 billion (USD432 million) from the NDRC's central budget, CNY7 billion from the Civil Aviation Administration of China's development fund and the remainder from the Urumqi People's Government. The other 30 percent will come from bank loans issued by Urumqi Linkong Development and Construction Investment Group.

The bulk of the budget will go to actual airport construction, in which several local state-backed companies will take part, and CNY2.7 billion will be set aside for a fuel management system.

Editor: James Boynton