China will promote the development of West China's combined highway-and-waterway transportation network, and a fully integrated transportation system will be established in western regions of the country by 2020, Li Shenglin, head of the Ministry of Transport, said on May 12, as reported by Xinhua.net on Monday. Li's statements were made during a meeting held in Yinchuan, the capital city of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

The recently released guidelines for developing highways and waterways involve building more expressways and harbors for passenger transport and freight transport, further constructing the highway-based inter-city cargo transportation network and promoting the transition from cargo stations to logistics centers. Li said that by 2020, each key city within national transportation junctions will have at least one fully functioning logistics center or cargo station, and that over 40 percent of the logistics centers and cargo stations would be completed by 2015. A seamless network of railway, highway, aviation and urban communications centers will be gradually built in West China.

Li also said that China will strengthen the construction of the Yangtze river's upstream shipping centers and other western inland river ports. Shipping containers and large loading-and-unloading locations for coal, iron ore and crude oils will be established, and more than 80 ports with capacities of one kiloton and above will be constructed by 2015.

Enhancing the number and quality of transportation facilities in West China will help to fundamentally improve and accelerate the development of many industries and will add to the region's capacity to accommodate industries relocating from eastern China and abroad. Li said that the western highway and waterway project will make West China a critical base for energy, resource processing, equipment manufacturing and emerging industries.