Transportation Minister Zhang Chunxian, speaking at a national working meeting held here on Tuesday, said that the 60,000 km. of highways built last year brought the total operational highway length throughout the country to 1.75 million km., a 74 percent increase over the 1989 figure.

Today, there are 18.3 km.of highway in every 100 square km. of Chinese territory, up 7.7 percentage points from 1989.

With the construction of a group of freeways, bridges and tunnels in recent years, the transportation difficulties impacting the economic and social development of the country have been significantly alleviated, said Zhang.

(Xinhua News Agency February 13, 2003)