China will build 180,000 kilometers in rural highways in 2006,
Li Shenglin, minister of communications, said in Beijing on
Sunday.
At a yearly national communications meeting, Li said these would
be mainly built along old revolutionary bases, border areas, poor
areas and major grain producing areas.
According to the ministry's plan, all administrative villages in
China will be connected by highways by the end of 2010.
Local transportation departments should give favorable policies
and financial support to rural highway construction, he said.
The ministry has been working hard on building a bus network in
rural areas, Li said. "Building highways in rural areas would be
most beneficial to farmers."
The ministry's statistics show China has 630,000 kilometers of
rural highways, twice the total length built in the 53 years since
People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949.
However, roads in many rural areas are still very bad, and
building highways for all of China's villages has proven difficult
because construction requires money, technology and support from
local governments.
Li said the ministry would try its best to build highways over
existing roads and not farmland.
(Xinhua News Agency January 16, 2006)
