China should introduce a fuel tax to raise sufficient funds for the construction of its expressway development, the World Bank said in a report released on Monday.

 

According to the report, excluding significant maintenance costs, China's national expressway network construction will require US$225 billion over the next 15 years.

 

The central and western regions will be unable to raise sufficient revenues to cover construction and on-going maintenance costs and the World Bank predicted the financing gap would stand at one billion US dollars per year, spreading over 13 central and western provinces.

 

Aurelio Menendez, a leading transport economist with the World Bank, said that aside from filling the funding gap, implementing a fuel tax would help maximize vehicle efficiency and minimize pollution.

 

The introduction of a fuel tax in China was first proposed in 1994 but has been delayed amid concerns that it would impose too great a burden on those who consumed more oil, such as bus and taxi drivers.

 

The government has instead collected road maintenance fees from automobile users regardless of how much gasoline or diesel oil they use.

 

(Xinhua News Agency February 13, 2007)