URUMQI, Feb. 11 -- Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region plans to invest 8 billion yuan (about 1.18 billion U.S. dollars) in rural road construction in 2023, local authorities said.

The region will build or upgrade 6,000 km of roads in the countryside to further improve local transportation conditions this year, according to the regional transport department.

Over recent years, Xinjiang has stepped up efforts in rural road construction. Since 2018, the region has spent 41.6 billion yuan to build or upgrade rural roads totaling 58,000 km, and the coverage of the rural road network has been further improved, the department added.

Currently, the total length of rural roads in Xinjiang exceeded 150,000 km.

In 2023, Xinjiang plans to invest 83.2 billion yuan in road construction.