Fujian Highway Sector Investment Project
2017.10.13
| LOCATION |
| Fujian Province, China |
| OWNER/IMPLEMENTATION UNIT |
| Fujian Provincial Expressway Construction Directorate |
| KEY WORDS |
| Highway; investment; Fujian; China |
| PROJECT COMPLETION/EXPECTED COMPLETION DATE |
| June 2015 |
| CASE DESCRIPTION |
As of project appraisal in 2006, Fujian province lagged behind other neighboring coastal provinces in transport infrastructure. Its density of higher-class roads was less than half of that in Guangdong and Zhejiang, and the percentage of unclassified and lower-class roads (81 percent) was substantially higher. There were large pockets of poverty in the mountainous western region of the province. In poor villages, unclassified and lower-class roads are often impassable in the rainy season and transport costs were high. Improving the rural road network was a key element for the socio-economic development of Fujian province. The objective of the Fujian Highway Sector Investment Project was to increase the effective use of the province’s road infrastructure to support its social and economic development. The project included (a) enhancing its rural roads network, (b) reducing transport costs, and (c) facilitating the interconnection across the coastal provinces. It consisted of four key components: rural roads improvement program, construction of the Yong’an - Wuping expressway, a highway maintenance pilot program, and an institutional strengthening program. The project enhanced the rural road network through rural road construction and rehabilitation. Rural road improvements resulted in reduced travel times and increased traffic volume and passenger services. Construction of the Yong’an-Wuping expressway radically reduced travel times and transport costs in Fujian’s interior. |
| KEY DATA |
| A 195 km four-lane toll expressway between Yong’an and Wuping (YWE) was constructed and opened to traffic in June 2010, providing a missing link in the national inter-province expressway network across coastal provinces. Travel times between Yong’an and Wuping were reduced 3.7 hours from 5.7 hours on the existing road (G205) to 2.0 hours on the YWE. A total of 10,290 km of rural roads were constructed or rehabilitated under the project. As of 2015, approximately 1.30 million villagers were benefitting from the project as measured by their proximity to improved or rehabilitated rural roads, which exceeded the project target by 5 percent. Traffic volume (passenger car units/day) increased 171 percent and passenger services (buses/day) increased 133 percent. Rural households experienced significant travel time reductions: 27 percent reduction for work travel, 42 percent reduction to access health services and markets in towns, and 40 percent reduction for student trips to middle schools. Cost of travel by motorcycles and private vehicles was reduced more than 50 percent. Rural passenger services are now available to more than 80 percent of Fujian villages, and public transport ridership has increased 24 percent. Accident rates dropped from 7.5 accidents per year before the project to 2 accidents per year after the works were completed. Training and study tours were provided and received a 95 percent satisfactory rating. |
| PROJECT-RELATED PARTIES |
The World Bank The Longyan YWE Company and Sanming YEW Company |
| CURRENT PROGRESS |
| The project was completed in June 2015. |
| INNOVATION POINT |
| RELATED LINKS |
