Study Of Rural Road Construction In Henan Province

Highway in rural areas is the foundation and forerunner of the rural economic and social development. Speeding up rural highway construction plays a vital role in improving rural living conditions,developing modern agriculture,building a new socialist countryside as well as constructing a harmonious society. During the 10th Five-Year Plan period, highway construction in rural areas in China had come to a new stage which played an critical and fundamental role in expanding rural infrastructure construction,promoting the comprehensive and coordinated development of the rural economy and society and building a new socialist countryside.Employing both quantitative and qualitative analysis methodology, this thesis expatiates objective evaluation and systematic study about economic, social, political, cultural and educational influence brought about by the rural highway construction in He 'Nan province. The highway construction in rural area is one of the most important components of highway net construction in China. This part of the infrastructure construction is a significant aspect of the so-called "construction of the new socialist countryside" which has a profound impact on the social and economic development of the rural areas. During the period of the "Tenth Five-year-plan", the highway construction in rural areas has triggered a series of changes in both economic and social aspects of the countryside. In He 'Nan province, majority of the population in the province are rural (80%). Therefore, highway construction in rural areas is particularly significant to the development of rural economy and society.On the one hand, changes brought about by the highway construction in rural areas are promising. The gross civil economy has been increased and domestic economy has been promoted. The "product development" in the countryside has been accelerated by the greatly improved transportation and investment environment in the rural areas; the "ample life" has been enhanced through the enlarged employment of the rural populations and the increased income of the peasants; the "rural civilization" has been advanced as a result of more frequent exchange of information and communication within or outside the rural areas; the "rustic neatness" has been achieved due to the hastened process of urbanization which at the same time osculated the connections between the authority and the public and promoted the development of education in rural areas. On the other hand, however, there are still many obstacles and challenges standing out in the highway construction in rural areas in He 'Nan province at present, among which mainly are the insufficient amount of rural highway, inadequate extending region, low technical level, deficient capacity in counter-disaster etc, as well as severe shortage of construction fund, weakness in the technical management force, inefficient fulfillment of construction obligation, imperfection in bylaws, non-standard construction administration and failure in put the fund into effect and so on. In a word, due to the low level of the highway construction in rural areas, fourth-class and substandard highway takes up nearly 70% while sandstone highway takes up over 30%, the extending range, technical status and administrative level of the highway in rural areas of He 'Nan province can not meet the needs of the new socialist countryside construction.Thus, the goal and focus in ascertaining the highway construction in rural areas should be both in light of overall programming of construction of the new socialist countryside and present social practice. To start with, practical needs of the social economic development and peasantry in rural areas should take the priority in planning the construction. Second, factors like comprehensive treatment of landscapes, farmlands and forests, small town construction, helping the impoverished up as well as tourism resource exploration should be considered in integration. More effort should be put on the construction of the "exporting highways" which lead to the economy and transportation centers and which connect the national and provincial truck highways, on the construction of the "economic highways" through the resource utilization and the interoperation among the impoverished regions and on the construction of the "extending highways" connecting to isolated towns, villages and administrative villages. What's more, highways construction in rural areas, as a social commonwealth practice, needs enhanced investment from the government which providing a stable financial guarantee to the construction and maintenance of the rural highways. Related policies should be carried out in order to solve the problems in the construction and maintenance funds. To make it more specific, it is suggested in the thesis that a state-centered investment system be established based on the financial distribution pattern declining towards the countryside which demands that legislatively, finance departments at different levels should take the obligation to provide endowment to build highways in rural areas. In this way, the fund needed for the large-scaled highways construction and maintenance in rural areas could be guaranteed hence. In addition, strengthening the technical instruction, insuring the project quality and establishing a practical rural highway maintenance administration system which is adapt to situations in He' Nan province are indispensible to the harmonious development of the highway construction and maintenance in rural areas.