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When China had 50,900
vehicles, the 80,700-kilometre-long roads might have been enough
to meet the demand for transport.
Most of these roads are in big cities, and in many of China's
rural villages, people did not even know what an asphalt road
was.
China's real road-building campaign started on October 1, 1949,
when the People's Republic of China was established.
With an area of more than 9.6 million square kilometers, it
is hard work to pave the roads to all of China's administrative
villages.
The task is anticipated to take the Ministry of Communications
more than 50 years.
The ministry plans to pave roads linking more than 45,000 administrative
villages to the nationwide road network by the end of the 10th
Five-Year Plan period (2001-05). If finished on time, 99 percent
of China's administrative villages will join the road network.
By the end of 1999, China had built 1.33 million kilometers
of road, including 11,000 kilometers of expressway.
China had 220,000 bridges and 13.2 million vehicles by 1999.
Some 1.26 billion people were using road transport in 1999.
Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the central
government has placed great importance on building a national
road network.
Between 1949 and 1978, when China began its drive to open up,
the nation built 890,200 kilometers of roads compared with 80,700
kilometers in 1949.
In 1978, China had 1.36 million vehicles nationwide.
Following the rehabilitation of the economy after 1978, the
increasing pressure for communication from the booming economy
propelled investment in road building.
The central government put priority in road building in southern
and eastern coastal regions in the 1980s and the early 1990s,
where China's fast developing special economic zones and regions
are.
Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong provinces
have developed very convenient road communication networks since
then. As well as second and third rate roads, these provinces
also have advanced expressways, which have linked them together,
greatly easing road transport conditions in China's south and
east.
In accordance with China's strategy to develop its vast western
regions, the Ministry of Communications has announced that the
west will take priority in road building.
Some national arterial roads which connect western provinces
both horizontally and vertically have also been given priority
in the ministry's future investment plan.
The ministry has decided to accelerate the construction of eight
trans-provincial roads in the next few years.
The roads will link Lanzhou of Gansu Province with Mohan of
Yunnan Province; Baotou of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region
with Beihai of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region; Yinchuan
of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region with Wuhan of Hubei Province;
Xi'an of Shaanxi Province with Hefei of Anhui Province; and
Changsha of Hunan Province with Chongqing Municipality.
In Northwest China, officials are considering building roads
linking Altay with Hongqilapu in Xinjiang; Xining of Qinghai
Province with Korla of Xinjiang; and Chengdu of Sichuan Province
with Zhangmu of Tibet.
The total length of these eight roads will be 15,000 kilometers.
In expressway building, 3,350 kilometers are expected to be
built. As well as the eight existing national roads in the region,
a skeleton communication network will be established in the
10th Five-Year Plan period.
Provincial road networks are also expected to be outlined.
Because of the less developed economies and smaller populations
in western provinces, the ministry has asked its subordinates
to pay attention to building second-class roads in their respective
locations.
Roads linking towns and villages will be built on another level,
and in some remote areas, the fundamental aim is to achieve
communication by road.
Sources with the ministry said they expected an average 20-30
billion yuan (US$2.4-3.6 billion) annual increase in the future.
Foreign funding will continue to play a role in the building
process, while State-owned commercial banks will play more active
roles in building the west.
(China Daily 10/23/2000)
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