China's transportation investment has achieved a "good start", and rural roads have ushered in new opportunities for development. Transportation | Rural | Investment

"A thousand layers of stone trees walk on a distant road, with the sound of mountains and fields emitting water." In the vast and flat mountains of southwestern Zhejiang, vehicles spiral up along the wide and flat mountain road. The terraced fields that have just been filled with water shine blue, and the slopes, valleys, and mountain tops are shrouded in clouds and mist. This is the "most beautiful terraced field in China" located in Yunhe County, Lishui City, Zhejiang Province - Yunhe Terraced Field.

Deep in the terraced fields lies a traditional village with a history of over 800 years - Kenggen Shizhai. In earlier years, the transportation here was blocked, and the roads connected to the outside world were all dirt roads. Villagers could only rely on their meager income from farming in the mountains to make a living.

To be rich, first build roads. Nowadays, Kenggen Village has become a well-known homestay gathering village. Kenggen Village has improved its transportation infrastructure by transforming the originally connected dirt roads into hardened roads and upgrading them to asphalt roads. The rural roads have become wider and cleaner, and the gateway to tourism development has been opened up. Vehicles entering the village are unobstructed, and there are more and more tourists.

June is the season of abundant harvest, with wheat covered in yellow and fruits fragrant. At the Baisheng Family Farm in Huozhuang Village, Fuchun Town, Heze City, Shandong Province, clusters of golden and red virgin fruits in the greenhouse exude an enticing luster. Villagers are busy watering, picking, packing, and transporting them.

"Our farm has planted three greenhouses this year, each with an income of over 15000 yuan, and the benefits are quite good. In the second half of this year, we plan to plant 8 acres of strawberries, creating a comprehensive family farm that integrates picking, sightseeing, and farming experience, and driving the surrounding villagers to become prosperous together." Ma Baisheng, the head of the farm, said with confidence that thanks to the convenient rural roads, the farm's orders are in short supply.

Rural roads are an important lever for implementing the rural revitalization strategy. In recent years, the construction of the "Four Good Rural Roads" in China has achieved tangible results, bringing popularity and wealth to rural areas, especially impoverished areas, and also consolidating the hearts of the people at the grassroots level for the Party.

In 2022, the Ministry of Transport and six other departments jointly released the Implementation Plan for Expanding Investment, Stabilizing Employment, and Better Serving Rural Revitalization on Rural Highways, proposing to launch a new round of rural road construction and renovation on the basis of completing the original annual task goals of rural roads ahead of schedule.

On April 17th of this year, the Ministry of Transport issued the "Work Points for Promoting the High Quality Development of" Four Good Rural Roads "in 2023", which proposed to focus on expanding investment, stabilizing employment, optimizing governance, strengthening management and maintenance, improving services, ensuring smooth traffic, emphasizing safety, and promoting integration, promoting the high-quality development of "Four Good Rural Roads", accelerating the improvement of the modern rural transportation system. This has set goals and planned directions for the development of rural roads nationwide this year, providing strong service guarantees for better serving the comprehensive promotion of rural revitalization and helping farmers and rural areas achieve common prosperity.

The prosperity of politics lies in following the hearts of the people. Under the guidance of policies, various regions have increased their efforts in rural road construction, ushering in new development opportunities for rural roads.

Recently, the Ministry of Transport released the Statistical Bulletin on the Development of the Transportation Industry in 2022. The bulletin shows that China's transportation investment will maintain a high level in 2022, accelerate the high-quality development of "four good rural roads", and achieve new results in serving rural revitalization. In 2022, China will launch a new round of rural road construction and renovation. The total length of newly renovated rural roads completed throughout the year reached 190000 kilometers, with a total investment of 473.3 billion yuan in rural roads, a growth rate of 15.6%, significantly higher than other fields.

Ensuring funding for the high-quality development of the "Four Good Rural Roads" is crucial. Data shows that in the first quarter of this year, fixed assets investment in rural roads nationwide reached 64.64 billion yuan, up 29.8% year on year; 15000 kilometers of newly renovated rural roads nationwide, a year-on-year increase of 187.9%, achieving 11.6% of the annual target. The expansion of investment in rural roads has achieved a good start.

In the forest orchard of Gangou Village, Silidian Town, Fangcheng County, Henan Province, the branches of the fruit trees are filled with patches of fruits, red and yellow, which make people drool and attract many tourists to come and pick and taste. The influx of orders has made the sales manager Li Jiangle bloom.

Zheng Lanying, a villager from Gangou Village, said happily while sorting fruits, "These days, different varieties of plum and white peaches in the orchard have matured one after another. We have work to do every day, and we can earn money at our doorstep."

In Daoxiang Village, Han'airike Town, Hotan County, Xinjiang, there are scattered houses with local ethnic characteristics. The roads in the village are clean and tidy, and tourists stroll along the rural paths, taking photos and taking photos while enjoying the pastoral atmosphere.

"Daoxiang Village is located next to National Highway 315, and its rural scenery has attracted many tourists. In order to make travel more convenient for tourists and villagers, all infrastructure in Daoxiang Village has been renovated in 2021, and nearly 8 kilometers of rural roads have been expanded." Bai Haijiang, Deputy Director of the Transportation Bureau of Hotan County, said that the improved transportation has greatly benefited farmers of all ethnic groups in Hotan County.

Relying on its advantageous transportation location and rice paddies and folk resources, Daoxiang Village is gradually expanding into new forms of tourism development, transforming towards an integrated folk characteristic village of "food, accommodation, tourism, shopping, and entertainment".

"Next, we will continue to promote the 'transportation+' model to increase production and income for farmers." Bai Haijiang stated that by cultivating multi-level, full industry chain cultural and tourism brands covering the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries through 'beautiful rural roads+beautiful economy', we will rely on cultural attraction, tourism experience, and cultural and creative product development to solve local employment problems and fully promote rural revitalization.

As of 2022, the total length of rural roads in China has reached 4.53 million kilometers, and the proportion of graded roads has reached 96%. Building the "Four Good Rural Roads" not only enables rural residents to better and more fairly enjoy equal transportation services, but also brings popularity and wealth to rural areas, consolidates people's hearts and public opinion at the grassroots level, and outlines a beautiful blueprint for the future development of rural areas.