|
Thursday May 20, 02:52 PM
Public Transport To Be A Key Focus For China Over Next 5 Yrs
BEIJING, May 20 Asia Pulse - China will give priorities to
the development of the urban public transportation system in
the next five years. Chinese Vice Minister of Construction Qiu Baoxing made the
remarks at the National Urban Public Transportation Conference,
that opened in Beijing Wednesday.
Qiu said foreign experiences have proved that giving
priorities to the urban public transport development will not
only help ease the urban traffic jams, but also improve the
urban living environment and realize sustained development in
cities. Qiu said, as an important urban infrastructure serving most
people, the urban public transportation system includes public
buses, electric buses, subways, taxis, ferries and other public
transport vehicles. The ministry has set an initial five-year goal for
developing urban public transport. In the next five years, all local governments will build
more public transportation infrastructures and special public
transport roadways in the urban areas to ensure public vehicles
run on designated roadways or have preference over certain
roadways. At that time, the average speed of the national public
transportation system is expected to reach 20 kilometers an
hour, and over 90 per cent of public vehicles will run on
time. Currently in China's capital Beijing, the average speed of
urban buses is lower than 10 kilometers an hour due to the
heavy traffic jams caused by the surging number of private
cars. To solve the problem, Beijing is making its future urban
transport development program. According to the program, the
city will build some parking lots around the urban areas, which
will help those private car owners change to take public buses
to their work places in downtown areas. Beijing will build 16 kilometers of new special roadways for
public buses this year, and by 2010, 75 per cent of Beijing's
major roadways and some expressways will open special public
traffic roadways, with the total length increasing from the
current 93 kilometers to over 300 kilometers. In the coming five years, all China's super-big cities like
Beijing are expected to increase the proportion of their urban
public transport to 30 per cent of the total, while the
proportion in other cities is expected to exceed 20 per cent. Qiu said the Chinese government will also increase
investment in urban transport stations construction and other
traffic infrastructure making the annual total investment reach
about three-to-five per cent of the national urban GDP. Qiu said China will also speed up reform of the urban public
transport enterprises, inviting domestic and foreign investors
to join the franchised operation of urban public traffic. Along with the development of urban transport, Qiu called
for all local governments to take ways to develop rural public
transport systems. By extending the urban public transport
service to the rural areas, more rural people will share the
same transport service with urban dwellers, Qiu noted. (XIC)
|
