CNR:
General Secretary Xi Jinping attaches great importance to the project to ensure rural roads are well built, managed, maintained, and operated. What new progress has been made in this regard? What measures will be taken in the future?
Li Xiaopeng:
Thank you for the questions about the project. It is a project General Secretary Xi Jinping has personally put forward and advanced to improve people's livelihoods, win the people's support, and govern for the people's benefits. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, General Secretary Xi has made important instructions on the project three times, emphasizing that not only should rural roads be built well, but they should also be managed, maintained, and operated well. General Secretary Xi also particularly emphasized that the project has achieved tangible results in recent years, bringing people and wealth to rural areas, especially poor areas, and consolidating the people's support for the Party at the grassroots level. General Secretary Xi's important instructions highlight his deep concern for the people and inject powerful impetus into our work on improving the construction, management, maintenance and operation of rural roads. Bearing in mind General Secretary Xi's important instructions, the Ministry of Transport has continuously promoted the high-quality development of the project. By the end of 2020, all the villages, townships, and towns with the right conditions were accessible by paved road and provided with bus routes, and rural areas are no longer troubled by poor road conditions. This is a feat of historical significance. The implementation of the project has strongly supported and guaranteed the victory of the critical battle against poverty and the completion of the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects.
In 2022, we conscientiously implemented the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council. Throughout the year, the total fixed-asset investment in rural roads across the country reached 473.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.6%. Over 180,000 kilometers of rural roads were built or renovated, 10,589 dangerous rural bridges were reconstructed, and 135,000 kilometers of rural roads were reinforced to better protect vehicles and passengers under a road safety project. We also implemented 3,859 rural road projects in the form of work-for-relief, creating job opportunities for 78,000 rural laborers. In the field of rural road management and maintenance, approximately 800,000 jobs were created. By the end of 2022, the coverage rate of the road chief scheme for rural road management tasks in counties (cities, districts) had reached 98.7%, with the number of road chiefs totaling 671,000. More than 8,000 integrated routes for passenger, freight and mail transportation were opened. All these efforts have promoted the high-quality development of the project.
Going forward, we will thoroughly implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions, promote the high-quality development of the project, and accelerate the improvement of a modern rural transportation system, to better serve the overall promotion of rural revitalization and agricultural and rural modernization, and provide strong and effective service guarantees for achieving common prosperity for all. We plan to continue to promote five aspects of work in improving the construction, management, maintenance and operation of rural roads. First, we will conduct another round of rural road construction and renovation work. There are five major projects: upgrading the backbone road network, extending and improving the basic road network, enhancing safety guarantee capabilities, integrating industrial development, and improving service levels. Through these five major projects, we will accelerate the improvement of a convenient, efficient, inclusive, and equitable rural road network system.
Second, we will help rural people find local employment opportunities and increase their income. We all know that rural roads are transport infrastructure, and their construction attracts migrant workers, allowing farmers to get jobs nearby and increase their income. We must make greater efforts to promote jobs instead of giving grants and continuously increase rural road-related job opportunities.
Third, we will strengthen the management and maintenance of rural roads, improve specialization, mechanization and scale, and promote rural roads' digitalization and information management.
Fourth, we will continuously improve the service quality of rural roads. It is necessary to accelerate the construction of a three-tiered rural logistics system at village, township and county levels and further promote the integrated development of passenger, freight, and postal services, that is, the integrated development of rural passenger transport, rural freight transport, and rural express postal services. We will improve the service level by equalizing urban and rural transport access.
Fifth, we will promote the integrated development of rural roads. It is necessary to develop rural roads in tandem with the construction of supporting facilities, industrial parks, tourist attractions, and rural tourism along the way. In addition, it is necessary to vigorously develop the road derivative economy so that better roads can boost local economies, incomes and areas. Thank you.
