Over 2.5 million kilometers of rural roads across China have been upgraded or newly built over the past decade, reflecting the country's notable achievements in the construction of rural roads, said a white paper released by China's State Council Information Office on Friday.
The white paper, titled "China's Rural Roads in the New Era," provides a comprehensive overview of China's rural road development approaches and achievements, focusing on the construction, management, maintenance and operation of rural roads.
Based on the requirement of "adequate construction," China has been accelerating the construction of a dense network of rural roads that effectively connect rural villages and facilitate access to towns, according to the white paper.
The white paper said that by the end of 2023, the total mileage of rural roads across China reached 4.6 million km, an increase of 21.7 percent over 2013, enough to circle the equator 115 times.
So far, the country has put in place a rural transport infrastructure network in which county roads connect rural and urban areas, township roads crisscross, and village roads facilitate travel between households and farmland, the white paper said.
Speaking at a press conference in Beijing on the release of the white paper, Vice Minister of Transport Li Yang interpreted the relevant contents of the white paper by reviewing efforts in rural road construction and management nationwide over the past decade.
"With 'adequate management' as a means, we've stepped up the establishment of a regular and efficient rural road governance system. We've also summed up the experience in how to raise rural road management efficacy, and made efforts to promote reform of the rural road management system, to make complete and improve the relevant laws and regulations, and to roll out guiding policy documents, particularly systems of some technical standards. We've promoted on a full scale the application of the 'rural road chief administrator' system, and kept improving the rural road governance system," Li said.
In addition, China has accelerated the establishment of a diversified mechanism for rural road maintenance to ensure "adequate protection."
By combining scientific maintenance with comprehensive upkeep, efforts have been focused on improving road conditions, ensuring safety, and enhancing the surrounding environment. This approach aims to continually enhance the effectiveness of maintenance approaches, according to Li.
Over the past 10 years, the proportion of rural roads classified as premier, good, and medium was raised from 79 percent to 91.1 percent, essentially realizing full coverage and guaranteeing the quality of rural road maintenance, he said.
With the aim of "adequate operation," China is accelerating the improvement of a convenient and equitable rural transportation service system.
Efforts are focused on continuously expanding the coverage of passenger and freight transport services in rural areas, enhancing the equalization of urban and rural transportation services, and promoting integrated development of rural passenger transport, freight and postal services, to facilitate smooth movement of people and goods between urban and rural areas, Li said.
China upgrades, newly builds 2.5 million km of rural roads in past decade: white paper
