The landlocked Henan province in Central China will invest heavily on its transport infrastructure to strengthen its connection with the Belt and Road Initiative, the provincial authorities said in a port-neighboring economy development forum held in the provincial capital of Zhengzhou on July 7. 

More than 300 people from the port groups, port administration and port-neighboring economic development zones attended the event, aimed to improve the interconnection between inland areas and the port cities. 

Zhengzhou is now connected with Europe through the China-Europe Freight Train. The provincial authorities said that Henan will invest 8.7 billion yuan ($1.28 billion) building five inland water transportation projects and these projects are expected to help Henan to connect with the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. 

Henan now has over 7,000 ships, which can carry 8 million tons of cargo. It takes six days to sail by ship from Zhoukou to Nanjing, Jiangsu province, and seven days to Shanghai.