Chinese government's efforts to improve infrastructure brought a considerable boom in its transport sector. All the investments in the transport division remained stable throughout the first six months of this year. The country saw a superlative increment in terms of freight transport in the first half of 2018.
China's infrastructure oriented planning has pumped up around 1.3 trillion yuan for the development of the transport sector in the first phase of the year, according to Ministry of Transport. The ministry also stated that a sum of about 980.6 billion yuan was invested for construction of highways and waterways, during the period of January to June. Hellenic Shipping News also quoted that this investment accounts for an increase of 1.8 percent in comparison to the same timeline in 2017.
Investment Growth in Roadways & Waterways Development:
According to Xinhuanet, investment in expressway grew up to 12.8 percent from January to June this year, amounting to a total of 431.1 billion yuan. However, investment on rural roads saw a hike of 1.8 percent with a sum total of 191.1 billion yuan during the same period this year. Considerable growth was observed in terms of freight transport during this timeline.
Excellent Boom in Freight Transport:
The total volume of freight transport grew by 77 percent in the whole of China. Mao Jian, deputy inspector of the comprehensive planning department at the ministry of transport also predicted that this parameter indicated for a high demand for Cargo transport in the near future. The country handled approximately 22.08 billion consignments of express deliveries during the period of January to June in 2018, this accounted for an allover increment of 27.5 percent in this section, in comparison to the growth rate of last year.
New Railway Projects:
Chinese Railways only completed 1.96 billion tons of freight transportation, majorly transporting coal with 80 percent of the total stake. The Chinese government has also planned to invest 2.6 trillion yuan for the expansion of roadways and railways in this year only. Premier Li Keqiang has also agreed to take new initiatives for faster completion of the Sichuan-Tibet railway. The project is under construction currently.
The Chinese government is highly enthusiastic to complete its goal of a modern transportation system by the end of 2020, which was one of its sole plans of China's 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020).
