The first highway bridge connecting China and Russia over the Heilong River is expected to trigger a development boom in the cross-border economic corridor - with positive effects for Mongolia, as well - as the flow of cargo and people increases.

A joint venture company will start construction of the bridge on Saturday, 28 years after it was first proposed. The model may prove instructive for the construction of other cross-border infrastructure, officials said at a news conference on Thursday.

The19.9-kilometer bridge about one-third of which is in China - stretches from Heihe, a border town in Heilongjiang province, to the Russian city of Blagoveshchensk.