Further expansion of the national road network is on the way. The government is planning to invest nearly 40 billion yuan for road construction in rural and remote areas.

The government is planning to invest nearly 40 billion yuan for road construction in rural and remote areas.(Photo: jnsz.gov.cn)

The Chinese Ministry of Communications has announced over the weekend, that there will be more fund available for China's rural road constructions this year. It says the core source of funding will come from the central government.

The country has budgeted 40 billion yuan for the expansion, with 5.5 billion yuan funded by government treasury bonds.

Dong Xuebo, Director of Planning of Ministry of Communications said "At least half of the money will come from the auto purchase tax incomes. We also plan to source 500 million yuan from various budgets, for rural transportation."

The ministry adds, the 40 billion yuan budget will prioritize road development in remote and poverty-stricken regions.

Dong Xuebo said "Investment for those remote areas will be funded by the central government, to ease the burden on the local governments' budgets."

The Ministry of Construction says, the central government will start the 118 kilometer long road construction project in Metok, located in the Tibet Autonomous Region. Metok is the only Chinese county with no high way or roads connection to the rest of the country.

The country's current road system is over 3.5 million kilometers long, with over 116,000 kilometers constructed in 2007.