Chinese officials in charge of road project planning and experts with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) began a two-day conference here Thursday on road planning in China.

The bank,which hosts the meeting, said in a press release that participants at the meeting include officials representing the the Ministry of Communications, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, Chinese banks, and road construction community.

The statement said the meeting was financed by the British Government, through the Poverty Reduction Cooperation Fund as part of a technical assistance program to help optimize future road investments in China and maximize their benefits for the poor by improving the linkage between local roads and the National Trunk Highway System, according to the statement.

Economic growth in China has resulted in increasing traffic volume, with the motor vehicle fleet growing at 15-30 percent per annum and the privately owned fleet of motor vehicles increasing more than 30 times in 1985-2004, the bank said.

"With China's rapid economic growth seen as continuing, low vehicle ownership rates, increased automobile manufacturing capacity, lower car prices as tariff barriers fell after World Trade Organization accession, and increasing access to loans to finance automobile purchases,the vehicle fleet is expected to continue growing in the coming years."

To remove major transport bottlenecks, the bank said government investments on roads are expected to reach about 1,800 billion yuan (219 billion US dollars) during the 10th Five-Year Plan period (2001-2005), almost double the amount spent in the previous five years. The road network grew from 1.16 million km in 1995 to about 1.9 million km in 2004.

The second-stage road development program will increase the network to more than 3 million km by 2020, with expressways increasing to over 80,000 km, said the bank.

Kim Jraiw, an ADB Senior Transport Specialist, said the technical assistance offered by Britain will help China prepare a road network strategy that promotes the integration of expressways and local roads to meet the needs of the communities and support economic growth.

The expected output of the assistance program includes: an integrated and sustainable road network development strategy, and priorities for the Government Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2006-2010), a mechanism recommended to the Government to tackle institutional obstacles in funding local road investments, improving the Government's Feasibility Study methodology and guidelines to facilitate assessment of road network projects, a computerized information system to provide uniform social, economic, engineering, transport, and area-specific data to fill the current gap, an integrated area wide road network computer model to help prioritize road investments.

The output also includes a road construction and monitoring model to facilitate implementation, a Transport Planning Unit created to provide ongoing expertise on road investment programs, and monitoring after the assistance terminates.

Nigel Rayner, director of Transport and Communications at ADB's East and Central Asia Department, said that ADB is keen to work closely with its member countries to develop a sustainable transport system, which is safe, efficient and environmentally friendly.

"Sustainable transport is about integrating engineering, economic, social and environmental considerations into decisions effecting transport activities," said Rayner.

"In the region, sustainable transport system is required and ADB has a key role to play. Adopting an area-wide approach to road network planning and investment can significantly help eliminate poverty and optimize transport system efficiency."

Source: Xinhua