A transport revolution is under way in China, with plans to connect villages to roads and give them access to shuttle buses within five years.

The government will spend 100 billion yuan (US$12 billion) between 2006 and 2010 on rural highways, according to the Ministry of Communications.

According to statistics from the transport department, 123 towns and 11,200 villages were connected to highways in 2004.

Also last year, about 250,000 kilometers of highways were upgraded to expressways and 130,000 kilometers of bitumen and cement roads were built.

Zhang Chunxian, minister of communications, said at a national communications meeting early this year that "building highways in rural areas is very beneficial to farmers."

The ministry's statistics shows China built 352,000 kilometers of rural highways in 2003 and 2004, including 192,000 kilometers of bitumen and cement roads, surpassing the total mileage of rural roads built in the country up until 2002 since the founding of New China in 1949.

However, roads in many rural areas are in a poor state, and building highways for all villages is difficult, as it requires money, technology and support from local governments.

"The ministry will try its best to build highways on top of existing roads and not over farmland," the minister said.

Zhang also revealed that the ministry has been working hard to build a rural bus network.

Buses on rural roads currently number 8,500, accessing 286 towns and 28,424 villages.

Villagers living in Xiajiabao of Shanxi Province have experienced the convenience that shuttle buses between Qixian the county seat and their hometown can offer.

Wu Qiusheng, a 41-year-old grocer, is one of the beneficiaries of this new method of travel.

"The opening of the shuttle bus has saved me a lot of time and great pain on my way to purchasing goods," he said.

Wu began his business five years ago and had to bike for an hour in the early days to Qixian to replenish his stock.

"The buses, which shuttle to and from Qixian at 15-minute intervals, have made the trip so much easier," Wu said. Now he only rides his bike when doing farm work.

Most of the villages in Qixian County now have access to such shuttle buses, according to Wu.

"Rural people now live like urbanites," he said. "They often go to the county seat to shop or buy farm materials thanks to the buses."

Wu and his fellow villagers were the first farmers to benefit from rural transport.

"All the villages connected to highways will have access to shuttle buses before 2010," said Feng Zhenglin, vice-minister of communications.

The project plans to cover at least 95 per cent of villages in underdeveloped areas in central and western China, Feng added.

But due to the poor roads in some rural areas, shuttle buses are not viable.

(China Daily June 21, 2004)