Road expansion in rural China

China: China's Ministry of Communications has announced that the country is to build or rebuild 1.2 million km of rural roads in the next five years. When finished it is estimated the roads will connect 80% of villages and 95% of towns in rural areas.

The new roads will mainly be built close to old revolutionary bases, border areas, poor rural communities and the country's major grain producing areas. According to the Ministry's plan, all administrative villages in China will be connected by highways at the end of 2010, when China expects to have about 1.8 million km of rural roads.

In the past five years, or during the country's 10th Five Year Plan, China has invested CNY 417.8 billion (US$ 51.9 billion) in rural road construction, three times the amount it spent during the previous five years. Statistics released by the Ministry show the country has 630000 km of rural highways leaving 340000 villages without access to the national road network.