The country's traffic and transportation network is expected to be improved greatly and become more efficient during the next five years through a key State transportation plan.

Construction of railways, roads, harbors, airports, natural gas pipeline and inland river transportation routes ranks as the top development priorities, according to the State Development Planning Commission.

The commission has issued a special plan for the key areas of development in traffic and transportation under the 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-05).

Central and local governments will lay more emphasis on accelerating traffic efficiency and achieving high quality services in transportation systems, said Xu Yongsheng, director of the commission's Basic Infrastructure Construction Department.

A new round of speed increases for trains will be introduced on October 21, according to the Ministry of Railways.

Most express trains linking Beijing and Kowloon in Hong Kong, and Beijing and Guangzhou, will hit more than 140 kilometers per hour.

Besides speed, transportation service quality is also expected to be upgraded in the future, Xu said.

The market economy and modern management systems, as well as standard regulations, will be introduced to guarantee a smooth, fast, safe and convenient traffic system, Xu said.

To further improve traffic efficiency, many big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou have promoted subway and light rail construction.

Subway constructions are underway at Shenzhen in Guangdong Province and Nanjing in Jiangsu Province.

Subway and light rail routes will reach 450 kilometers during the next five years - about four times the present length.

In order to accelerate the upgrading of its transport system, China will open up the transport operation market to both domestic and foreign investors, Xu said.

The plan also states that by the end of 2005, the country's total railway length will reach 75,000 kilometers while the total road length will reach 1.6 million kilometers.

Some 140 deep-water berths will be built within five years, including 50 container berths, three oil terminals and three ore terminals.

Dozens of airports will be built or renovated, including international-standard aviation hubs in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, 13 large airports, three standby airports and 40 lateral airports.

(China Daily 08/15/2001)