Transport Ministry spokesperson Wu Chungeng said at a regular press conference of the Ministry of Transport on September 28 that since the 18th CPC National Congress, the central government has invested 401.6 billion yuan in rural road construction. In 2017, the Ministry of Transport allocated 90.58 billion yuan of vehicle purchase tax for rural road investment for the whole year, accounting for 36.3% of the total annual vehicle purchase tax funds.
Wu Chungeng said that in order to achieve access to villages and townships through rural roads and ensure that the bottom-line target of completing hardened roads in townships and administrative villages in poverty-stricken areas is fully met before 2019, efforts will be made to build “safe and reassuring roads,” with priority given to implementing the rural road safety life protection project, and to ensure that hidden danger treatment for township roads and roads above that level is basically completed before 2020.
Wu Chungeng said that since the 18th CPC National Congress, the level of rural transport support has continued to improve. By the end of 2016, the total mileage of rural roads nationwide had reached 3.96 million kilometers; 99.99% of townships and 99.94% of administrative villages had access to roads, and 99.02% of townships and 95.37% of administrative villages had access to passenger transport services.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Transport, 89% of China's rural roads are graded roads, and 73% are hardened roads. The rates of establishment of rural road management and maintenance institutions at the county and township levels reached 99.9% and 92.9%, respectively, and the rate of rural roads under maintenance reached 97.5%. Rural roads have truly played an inclusive role in connecting urban and rural areas and serving agriculture, rural areas, and farmers, enabling the broad masses of farmers to share in the achievements of transport development.