BEIJING - The
Ministry of Communications has mapped out a
blueprint for the development of highways, coastal
ports and inland waterway shipping in major
regions, intended to guide the development of the
country's transportation infrastructure until
2020.
The blueprint covers such plans as
the high-grade shipping network in the Pearl River
Delta, a highway and waterway shipping development
plan for the old industrial base of northeast
China, a highway modernization plan, a waterway
communication plan for the Yangtze River Delta, a
high-grade shipping network
plan
for the Yangtze Delta, and an inland river
shipping development plan for western China.
Sixteen shipping channels are planned by
2020, totaling 939 kilometers in the Pearl River
Delta. By 2020, five channels for over 3,000-ton
oceangoing ships, six channels for 1,000-ton grade
oceangoing ships and four inland shipping channels
will be formed. These projects will cost an
estimated 4.2 billion yuan (US$520 million).
Highway mileage in northeast China should
reach 190,000 kilometers by 2010; the regional
expressway mileage will be 5,500 kilometers; all
counties will be serviced by second-grade highways
and 90% of trunk highways will be at least second
grade; the comprehensive capacity of coastal ports
will be 400 million tons; the container throughput
of coastal ports will hit 10 million 20-foot
equivalent units (TEUs); the shipping channels
above the third grade will be 1,980 kilometers
long; the number of inland ports will be 252; and
the throughput capacity of all ports will be 22
million tons.
By 2020, total highway
mileage will be 240,000 kilometers; the regional
expressway mileage will exceed 9,000 kilometers;
the comprehensive throughput capacity of the
coastal ports will hit 750 million tons; the
container throughput of coastal ports will reach
27 million TEUs; and mileage of shipping channels
improved to grade three or above will reach 2,830
kilometers.
The total size of the highway
network, including expressways, ordinary trunk
line highways and rural roads, is expected to
reach 300,000 kilometers by 2020, of which 12,000
kilometers will be expressways. Although the
ministry had stated in recent months that foreign
investment in roads would be allowed, particularly
in rural areas, officials did not refer to foreign
investment in the recent announcement.
Waterway plans Meanwhile, a
high-grade shipping channel network including 23
channels in the Yangtze River region and the Beijing to Hangzhou Grand
Canal will be built. The total mileage of channels
planned by 2020 totals 4,200 kilometers,
equivalent to 33% of the current mileage,
including 3,400 kilometers above the third grade
and 800 kilometers of fourth grade; seven
state-class comprehensive transport hubs will be
built in Shanghai, Nanjing,
Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Xuzhou and Lianyungang,
of which Shanghai, Nanjing, Ningbo, Wuzhou and
Lianyungang will become international ones and
Hangzhou and Xuzhou will become the inland
comprehensive transport hubs.
The
infrastructure of trunk lines in the Yangtze River
and the Xijiang River will be strengthened, and
the construction of shipping projects in the
Jialingjiang, Hanjiang, Youjiang, Liujiang,
Qingjiang, Beipanjiang and Hongshuihe rivers will
be speeded up. In addition, five inland river
ports - Yibin, Chongqing, Nanning,
Guigang and Wuzhou - will be built; and the
shipping channels connecting major branches and
major regional ports will be developed further.
By 2010, 3,700 kilometers of shipping
channels will have been improved, including 76
kilometers of grade-three shipping channel, 695
kilometers of grade-four channels, and 2,000
kilometers of grade-five channels. Also, 175
berths in inland ports will be built with a
combined handling capacity of 22.6 million tons.
By 2020, a waterway connecting the river
system in western China with the sea will be
built. Some 3,300 kilometers of shipping channels
will be improved in the region, including 745
kilometers of grade-three channels, 1,900
kilometers of grade-four channels, and 110
kilometers of grade-five channels. Lastly, 70 new
cargo berths will be built in the region with a
newly-increased handling capacity of nine million
tons.
