China's Ministry of Transport has revealed its expected budget to build and renovate the country's railway and transport infrastructure systems next year. The agency announced on Thursday last week that it is preparing to invest around 2.69 trillion yuan over the next 12 months.
The investments will be broken down into three separate categories. Around 1.8 trillion yuan will be allocated towards building and renovating the country's highways and waterways. 800 billion yuan will be used towards the country's railways, while 90 billion will be used towards the country's civil aviation infrastructure.
China Minister of Transport, Li Xiapoeng, stated during the agency's annual meeting that it has already completed around 3.21 trillion yuan worth of investment in transportation fixed assets for 2019.
This year's investments resulted in the addition of 8,000 kilometers of new railways and around 330,000 kilometers of new roads. Investments over the past 12 months have also resulted in the completion of five new civil transport airports and 385 kilometers of high-grade waterway infrastructures.
This year also saw accelerated progress in the development of new postal express service outlets and intelligent delivery terminals. All of the aforementioned progress has so far resulted in significant improvement in the country's business environment, the agency claims.
The agency estimates that the logistics costs in the country have been reduced by around 80 billion yuan thanks to the improvements. It has also apparently reduced taxes and fees forcivil aviation services by around 9 billion yuan. Majority of the aviation budget for 2019 went towards the completion of the new Beijing Daxing International Airport.
As of December, the agency has managed to roll out more than 192 million electronic toll-collection (ETC) devices to different private and public vehicles. This year saw around 111 million new ETC users, equating to a 101.25 percent year-on-year increase.
The country's Ministry of Transport aims to achieve more of the same amount of progress for 2020, coordinating multiple projects and promoting policy reforms that will accelerate infrastructure development. The ministry will still be focusing on the core infrastructure that will further bolster economic growth, namely the country's highways, railways, civil aviation, postal services, urban transport, and water transport.
Some of the more specific projects that were outlined by the agency include the accelerated construction of a railway that would connect Chongqing to Kunming and Hetian to Rouqiang. The agency also stated that it will be building a three-dimensional traffic corridor along the Yangtze River Economic Belt.
