China should introduce a fuel tax to raise sufficient funds for
the construction of its expressway development, the World Bank said
in a report released on Monday.
According to the report, excluding significant maintenance
costs, China's national expressway network construction will
require US$225 billion over the next 15 years.
The central and western regions will be unable to raise
sufficient revenues to cover construction and on-going maintenance
costs and the World Bank predicted the financing gap would stand at
one billion US dollars per year, spreading over 13 central and
western provinces.
Aurelio Menendez, a leading transport economist with the World
Bank, said that aside from filling the funding gap, implementing a
fuel tax would help maximize vehicle efficiency and minimize
pollution.
The introduction of a fuel tax in China was first proposed in
1994 but has been delayed amid concerns that it would impose too
great a burden on those who consumed more oil, such as bus and taxi
drivers.
The government has instead collected road maintenance fees from
automobile users regardless of how much gasoline or diesel oil they
use.
(Xinhua News Agency February 13, 2007)