Nation to build, upgrade 100,000-km rural roads

The Wucheng section along the Jiande-Wuyi expressway, a project by State builder China Railway 24th Bureau Group Corp, spans across a rural area in Jinhua, Zhejiang province. (CHINA DAILY)

The draft regulation on rural roads, which was recently approved by the State Council, will further the nation's push to improve rural transportation and support rural revitalization, experts said.

The comments came as the nation's Cabinet approved a draft regulation on rural roads during an executive meeting on Friday. Building higher-quality rural roads should be placed high on the rural development agenda, and those which do not meet technical requirements be renovated to achieve qualified standard as soon as possible, the meeting said.

It also stressed effective investment, road maintenance and management to extend the service life of rural roads.

"Such an effort by the government echoes with an old Chinese proverb that states — 'if you want to be rich, build roads first!' Rural roads are key infrastructure that play a major role in accelerating the nation's rural vitalization progress. Better transport between rural and urban areas will also inject impetus into consumption sectors, for example, tourism," said Long Chaocan, an investment consultant with China Galaxy Securities Co Ltd.

From January to May, fixed-asset investment in rural roads reached 131.2 billion yuan ($18.31 billion), according to the Ministry of Transport. Meanwhile, 28,000 kilometers of new and upgraded rural roads were completed, along with 15,000 km of road safety projects and the renovation of 1,424 dangerous bridges.

China plans to build or upgrade 100,000 km of rural roads this year, including new paved roads in 250 towns and access to hardened roads in 12,000 large natural villages, the ministry said.

A major funding source for rural transportation projects, China's local governments issued new bonds worth about 1.98 trillion yuan in the first five months of the year, the Ministry of Finance said.

China has pledged a more proactive fiscal policy this year to shore up sustained economic and social development. The country plans to issue 4.4 trillion yuan in local government special-purpose bonds in 2025, marking an increase of 500 billion yuan from last year, according to this year's Government Work Report.