According to the nation's three-stage strategic targets set by the Ministry of Communications for highway and waterway transportation development, there will be 600 million Chinese people to enjoy convenient transportation service from construction of expressway networks in the ten years to come in China.
By 2010, China will have a highway network to cover all trunk lines available; Beijing will be enabled to link up with all major cities and provincial capitals with a population of over 1m and 90 percent cities with a population of over 0.5 million. In the rural areas, highways will reach all towns made accessible and 96 percent administrative villages to extend the nation's total highway mileage to 1.8 million kilometers, of which 35,000 kilometers will be expressways.
As for waterway transportation, Shanghai will rise and become an international shipping center with 900 deepwater berths and modern port facilities. The handling volume of top five container ports would be ranked among world top 20, and overall tension in highway and waterway transport eased.
By 2020, a network of expressways to be built to benefit over 900 million people in Chinese cities with a population size of over 0.5 million. Expressway networks in eastern and central regions will be completed and 8 highways built in eastern regions. Then the nation's total highway mileage would run to 2.3 million kilometers including 55,000 kilometers of expressways. By the year of 2040, highways and waterways would be modernized over a distance of 3 million kilometers of the total highway mileage and there will be an efficient, safe and speedy domestic transportation network of highways and transnational expressways to be put at the service of China.
(People's Daily 06/08/2001)
