With COVID-19 resurgences in some parts of the nation being put under better control, many State-owned builders are gathering speed on livelihood infrastructure projects to shore up economic momentum.

China Railway 24th Bureau Group Corp Ltd, a unit of China Railway Construction Corp, the nation's largest contractor, said its builders have recently achieved smooth entry into the Foling Tunnel, the longest tunnel of the Fuzhou East Ring Expressway project, a key livelihood infrastructure project in Jiangxi province.

With a total length of 1,138 meters and a maximum buried depth of about 115 meters, the Foling Tunnel is located in complicated surrounding rock conditions in need of many additional safety guarantees and strict environmental protection requirements.

The tunneling project is located near a living community, and the geological conditions are also tough and complicated, especially for the tunnel entrance, which features mostly shallow buried sections-meaning the part of the tunnel is easily prone to collapsing, roof falls and other accidents, said Li Xiaofei, project manager with the China Railway 24th Bureau Group.

"After running through simulations with data accumulated through on-site research, we started the tunneling work inch-by-inch, steadily, with safety check equipment along the whole tunneling process, until we dug out the very first part of the tunnel entrance," Li added.

With a total length of 40.9 kilometers and an investment of 5.74 billion yuan ($8.67 billion), the highway is a two-way four-lane expressway with a designed speed of 100 kilometers per hour, which will not only make trips between two townships in Fuzhou-Taiyang and Songhu-more efficient but also upgrade the expressway network linking the city.

The Fuzhou East Ring Expressway is also the first expressway co-invested and operated by the China Railway 24th Bureau Group.

The completion of the whole project will further improve the expressway network in Jiangxi province, promote the strategic integrated development of Fuzhou's eastern area, ease the traffic pressure on the main urban highways, and drive the economic development along the expressway, said Li Kang, Party chief with the project team of China Railway 24th Bureau Group.