China Railway Group , the country's biggest railroad builder, said it was suspending its three projects in Libya as it evacuates workers due to escalating violence in the African nation.

The total contract value of the three rail projects is $4.24 billion, of which $3.55 billion worth of construction has not been completed, the firm said.

The contract value of the uncompleted work in Libya accounts for 2.3 percent of its overall portfolio of unfinished jobs.

The firm won bids in 2008 to build a 352-kilometre west-to-east coastal railway and a south-to-west railway that would facilitate the transportation of iron ore from the southern city Sebha to Misurata.

Its third project is a 172-kilometre railway that extends from Tripoli, Libya's capital, to the key Ras Jedeir port in the west, the firm said. (Reuters)