GUIYANG, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- China's mountainous province of Guizhou said Thursday that it had built and upgraded 8,172 kilometers of rural roads in 2018 as it strengthened the fight against poverty.

The province's department of transport said Guizhou's countryside now has 77,500 km of asphalt and concrete roads to link 98 percent of villages that have more than 30 households.

Guizhou, a relatively poor province in southwestern China, is using improved infrastructure to reduce poverty. The department said 84 percent of the rural roads built or upgraded last year, or 6,845 km, were in poverty-ridden areas.

The inland province also added 617 km of expressways last year, extending its highway network to 6,450 km.

Guizhou, at the forefront of the country's anti-poverty campaign, lifted 1.2 million people out of poverty in 2017.