Transport Ministry pivots to upgrading road network
▶ China has systemic advantage in infrastructure
China plans to perfect its highway system by building and improving national road system, officials and experts said at a press conference on Monday, as the country ramps up efforts to upgrade infrastructure facilities and boost the COVID- 19- hit economy.
Although China lags behind some developed countries in roads penetration or length per capita, China’s speed and efficiency of pushing infrastructure projects have outpaced countries like the US, though competition in new infrastructure is fierce, experts said.
Wang Songbo, an official from China’s Ministry of Transport ( MOT), announced specific targets China looks to achieve in improving its highway network on Monday. For example, China aims to have residents in all counties and cities be within a 15- minute trip to reach a national highway by 2035, Wang noted.
China is also striving to build a national expressway system that connects all counties/ cities in the country’s border ports, while the national highway network is expected to link with Asia’s highway networks, Wang said.
Shi Liangqing, deputy head of the MOT’s Transport Planning and Research Institute, said at the press conference that China’s highway network should maintain reasonable advance development.
Experts warned that it’s important to make sure that China’s infrastructure plans, whatever their timing and structure, are made in a scientific manner. Unsound infrastructure projects will actually mean bottlenecks and have a negative impact on the economy, although they might support short- term GDP growth.
“A scientific infrastructure plan takes into account factors ahead of time, such as how the region’s industrial structure, regional development and population are expected to evolve, as well as how the infrastructure would pay off economically,” Cong Yi, an economics professor with the Tianjin University of Finance and Economics, told the Global Times on Monday.
Comparing highway construction in China and the US, experts said that China still lags behind in terms of per capita length, but it has largely outpaced the US in construction speed and efficiency.
According to Shi, at end- 2021, every 10,000 people in China owned 37.4 kilometers of highways on average, about 18 percent of the US levels.
Regarding construction of expressways and bridges in recent years, the US has lagged behind China, whether in terms of planning, construction volume or quality of construction, analysts said.
One reason for the situation is because the US’ labor market is “distorted,” analysts said.
China owns institutional advantages over the US in pushing infrastructure projects, as much of China’s land is publicly owned, and the government has stronger decision making power on improving infrastructure, Cong noted.