China will build 180,000-kilometer rural highways in 2006, said Li Shenglin, minister of communications, in Beijing Sunday.

At a yearly national communications meeting, Li said these will be mainly built in old revolutionary bases, border areas, poor areas and major grain producing areas.

According to the ministry's plan, all administrative villages in China will be connected by highways at the end of 2010.

Local transportation departments should give favorable policies and financial support to rurual highway construction, he said.

The ministry has been working hard on building a bus network in rural areas, Li said. "Building highways in rural areas is most beneficial to farmers."

The ministry's statistics show China has 630,000 kilometers of rural highways, one time more than the total mileage it built in the 53 years since New China was founded in 1949.

However, roads in many rural areas are still very bad, and building highways for all China's villages is difficult, as it needs money, technology and support from local governments.

Li said the ministry will try its best to build highways on top of the existing roads and not over farmland.

Source: Xinhua