The country will do more to develop its mass transit systems to
reduce energy consumption and pollution, a senior official
said.
Regulations are being drafted to guarantee favorable policies
and financial support for the development of urban public
transport, Qiu Baoxing, vice-minister of construction, said at a
conference yesterday in Beijing.
The ministry is also planning to reform the financing mechanism
for mass transit systems, which include buses, subways and light
rail lines, he told the first International Congress on China Urban
Transportation Development, which ends tomorrow.
"We welcome capital investments from home and abroad in our
urban mass transit systems," he said.
And the authorities are considering giving firms special permits
to run mass transit systems as a way of ensuring returns on their
investment, he said.
"The urban public transport market is worth 1.4 trillion yuan
(US$185 billion)," he said.
Urban rail transit systems are now considered a key solution to
public transport problems in big cities.
Fifteen cities are laying out a total of 1,500 km of rails
during the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10), at a cost of 500 billion
yuan, he said.
Wang De, a professor at Tongji University, said in an interview
with China Daily that the country faces a huge shortfall
in funding for the construction of urban public transport
systems.
All urban public transport systems are now run by government or
state-owned enterprises, but the mass transit plan will require
more capital inputs.
"If more private funds are brought into circulation, the money
problem will be solved. In addition, private companies usually run
mass transit systems better than the government," he said.
The ministry first started promoting its urban mass transit
policy a few years ago, but it has yet to have much effect at the
local level, said Guo Xiaobei, an expert with the National
Development and Reform Commission's Institute of Comprehensive
Transport.
Rail transit systems in major cities are lagging behind those in
the big cities of Western countries. To date, only 10 cities in
China have urban rail transit systems. Their combined length is 621
km, which is similar to the length of London's system alone.
Qiu said the ministry's policy of prioritizing mass transit was
the best solution for the country's transport concerns.
Each year, about 18 million people move into cities from the
countryside, and the trend is expected to continue over next two
decades.
Meanwhile, private car ownership has been increasing by 10
percent a year, causing serious traffic jams. In some big cities,
the average speed of vehicles during rush hours is only 5 kmp, the
same speed as walking.
(China Daily August 3, 2007)