China has built or upgraded about 1.39 million kilometers of rural highway in the past five years, providing 99.64 percent of townships and 99.47 percent of the nation's villages with paved roadways, according to a recent press conference, Chinanews.com reported on Feb. 28.

By the end of 2018, 99.1 percent of China’s townships and 96.5 percent of its villages had coach services, while the nation's rural highway mileage reached 4.05 million kilometers, disclosed Li Xiaopeng, China’s minister of transport, at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office of China on Feb. 28.

Li noted that over the past five years, 31 Chinese provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities have already released effective plans for the promotion of construction, management, maintenance, and operation of rural roads, or incorporated them into government evaluation systems.

China’s Ministry of Transport is going to further strengthen its efforts to accelerate the construction of rural highways by improving relevant plans, policies, regulations, and standards, said Li, explaining that the ministry is preparing a medium and long-term strategy for the development of rural highways.

The country is also busy drafting a set of guidelines on boosting the sound development of the construction, management, maintenance, and operation of rural roads, and has already prepared new regulations on rural highways, Li revealed.