ULAN BATOR, July 4 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB)'s Board of Directors has approved a loan of 60 million U.S. dollars to help Mongolia renovate roads, local media reported Wednesday.

The decision was made on July 2, according to news website gogo.mn.

The money will be earmarked for the renovation work of 311 km roads along the routes of Ulan Bator-Darkhan and Darkhan-Altanbulag, crucial parts in Mongolia's road corridor sections that link with China and Russia.

Road improvement is expected to help the landlocked country increase economic growth rate through trade and tourism.

According to Mongolia's Ministry of Road and Transport Development, the East Asian country with a total land area of 1,564,116 square km has a road network of about 50,000 km, but less than 15 percent has been paved.

Over the past 25 years, the ADB has implemented in Mongolia about 280 projects and programs worth a total of 1.9 billion dollars in fields such as health, social protection, infrastructure and urban planning.?