Infrastructure Construction

Roads China has a huge national web of roads cross-crossing its vast territory. With seven national highway routes from west to east and five ones north to south, the total mileage of highway in China is 35,000 kilometres. Most of these routes have been finished and put to use. China has made road construction one of its key infrastructure projects. From 1998 to 2001, over RMB200 billion (US$24 billion) has been invested in roads. By 2002, China has spent RMB300 billion (US$37 billion) on road construction. Sixty-seven thousand kilometres of new roads have been constructed, including 5,700 kilometres of highways. By 2003, over 36,000 kilometres of roads have been completed. By the end of 2003, the total mileage of roads already put to use, has reached over 1.8 million kilometres, including 40,000 kilometres of modern highways. Meanwhile, China's middle and western regions are investing heavily in roads. By 2008, China's major highway transportation network will be completed. At that time, big cities like Beijing, Shanghai, all the municipalities, provincial capitals, and capitals of the autonomous regions will be inter-linked by road networks with highways as the main trunk. By then, drivers can reach over 200 cities on the national highway network. Railway By the end of 2003, the total mileage of China's railway is 73,000 kilometres. The double-track railway mileage is over 20,000 kilometres and electric railway is about 18,000 kilometres. The Guangdong-Hainan Railway, opened on January 7th, 2003. The 1142-kilometre-long Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the railway at the highest altitude in the world, will be completed in 2006. At present, China has become the country with the largest volume of railway transportation in the world. It is also a country with the fastest growth of transportation volume and the most efficient use of transportation equipment. Since 1998, the speed of China's railways has also improved. With the introduction of higher speed trains, most morning trains can reach their destination by night, making the public transportation more convenient than ever. Port China's coastal ports are built around the transportation network of coal, cargo, imported iron ore, food and deep-water sea-lanes. In particular, the cargo-shipping network has received special attention in port construction. The government has built several deep-water cargo ports in the cities of Dalian, Tianjin, Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Xiamen, and Shenzhen. New coal loading ports have been completed to meet the country's growing needs. Meanwhile, a series of ports transporting imported oil and iron ore products have been modified and enlarged. By the end of 2003, the major ports in China have around 1800 parking berths, including over 530, 10,000-ton berths. The goods throughput is more than 1.7 billion tons. Some of the big ports even exceed 100 million tons. Ports of Shanghai, Shenzhen, Qingdao, Tianjing, Guangzhou, Xiamen, Ningbo, Dalian are within the 50 top container ports in the world. Air China's airlines reach most of the major destinations around the world. By the end of 2003, there are over 140 civil airports in China, with over 1000 regular flights. More than 160 international flights connect China with over 60 cities in 30 countries. Telephone By 2003, the number of China's landline phone users has increased by 49 million to 260 million. In cities, there are more than 170 million landline users, while in the countryside there are roughly 90 million users. China launched its mobile telecommunication services in 1987 and the industry has developed rapidly since, with an average annual growth rate since 1990 of above 100%. By 2003, the mobile telecommunication network covers every big and medium-sized city and more than 2000 small cities and counties. The number of mobile phone users has increased by nearly 63 million to 270 million. By the end of this year, China's landline and mobile phone users will top over 530 million, an increase of 110 million over last year. At the moment, there are 43 phones to every 100 persons in China. Internet China currently has an online population of more than 80 million. According to statistics, the number of Chinese net users who stay online for at least one hour every week ranks third in the world, following America and Japan. Since July 2001, the number of websitesin China has reached 300 thousand. A high-speed basic transmission network led by fibre and supported by satellites and digital short wave has been completed. By the end of 2003, China's fibre cable is 2.7 million kilometres long. In coastal areas and economically prosperous inland regions, the fibre cable has spread into counties, residential parks, and various buildings, to be the major technical vehicles for information. At present, a public data telecommunication network based on group switching data network, digital data network, internet, multimedia telecommunication network is coming into being and covering above 90% of counties and cities. With a capacity of 610,000 communication ports, this network has become one of the world's biggest public data telecommunication network.