(Photo: IC)

The rail transport industry in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong province, will reach 120 billion yuan ($17.91 billion) by 2021, said city newspaper Guangzhou Daily on Friday.

The expected valuation comes with the latest rail transport development plan for 2019-2021 announced by the government.

The plan further said that by 2023 the industry will reach 180 billion yuan and play an increasingly important role in the city's economic development.

Guangzhou Metro Corp, operator of the city's railway network, along with other companies, manufacturers and operators, has been encouraged to actively participate in the railway project construction in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Comprising the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macao Special Administrative Region, and nine cities in the Pearl River delta region, the Greater Bay Area is expected to become a thriving global center of technology and innovation and economic hub.

Railway construction is to contribute to the area's connectivity of infrastructure in the coming years.

The Metro Corp is being urged to speed up construction of the railway in the city's Baiyun district, and at the same time further expand its business outside the city, according to the development plan.

Guangzhou has been given the green light for the construction of 10 new metro lines totaling 258.1 kilometers.

Scheduled for completion by 2023, the new lines will cost more than 219.6 billion yuan.

Once completed, the southern metropolis will have 18 metro lines in operation, at a total length of more than 792 kilometers, 2.5 times its current scale.