Infrastructure projects continue unabated in China as the country prepares to host the 2008 Olympic Games. Patrick Smith looks at the progress

The 2008 Summer Olympics will be celebrated from 8-24 August 2008 with a grand opening ceremony starting 08: 08: 08pm at the Beijing National Stadium in the Chinese capital.

If everything goes according to plan, it will be an immensely proud moment for the people of China, representing the culmination of seven years'' work during which time the authorities have lavished billions of Renminbi (RMB/CNY) on construction works. It has been estimated that the Olympic Games (emblem Dancing Beijing) have contributed to the capital''s annual growth by some two percentage points over the last four years.

It has also been estimated that Beijing has spent, in one way or another, some RMB260 billion (US$35 billion) on preparing for the Olympics. Including the Beijing event, this is nearly half that spent on all Olympics since the Montreal Olympics in Canada in 1976.
Indeed, the first ring highway of Beijing, which cost $1.6 billion, is also the city''s fifth ring road (the number of ring roads is open to debate), and is one of the major infrastructure construction projects for Olympics. Opened in 1993 it is 98.58km long and circles the city linking some major stadiums for the Games as well as many of the city''s major communities such as Beiyuan, Wangjing and Shijingshan.

Eight expressways, such as the Airport Expressway, expressway from Beijing to Shenyang, capital of northeast China''s Liaoning Province; expressway to the Great Wall and the expressway from Beijing to Chengde, a scenic spot in north China'' Hebei Province, also have junctions with the fifth ring highway.

Completion of the six-lane ring highway with 259 bridges and flyovers will also help relieve the city''s traffic pressure.

Earlier this year, the longest highway designed specifically for the Games, linking the Olympic Village and the Olympic Water Park in the east suburban area, opened to traffic. The Baima Road, about 20km long and with a speed limit of 60km/hr, will serve as a major artery in Beijing that provides convenient and fast access to the Olympic venue in Shunyi District.

Zhou Zhengyu, Deputy Director of Beijing Traffic Management Commission, said it would take 30 minutes for athletes from the Olympic Village in northern Beijing to the Water Park via the road. During the Games, an exclusive lane will be reserved on the highway for Olympic vehicles.

And despite talk of an economic downturn (China''s gross domestic product is expected to grow by 11.3% this year slowing to a 10.8% growth rate in 2008, says experts) it is hoped that further investment will be stimulated following the Olympic Games and by Beijing''s new infrastructure; a demand for housing, and its new (sometimes criticised) $360 million showpiece egg-shaped theatre, which it is hoped will host international stars.

Whatever happens, investment in China''s infrastructure, particularly highways, railways, airports, maritime ports and buildings, continues unabated with billions being spent on ambitious long-term national plans, and on efforts to increase the attraction of the western part of the country.

Until recent years, this area, often impeded by mountains, has been comparatively neglected as the government and investors have pumped money into the eastern and coastal regions home to cities such as Dalian, Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

However, some cities in the central/western regions such as Chengdu and Chongqing on the River Chang Jiang (Yangtze) in Sichuan Province have also prospered immensely. Indeed, every year some 8.5 million people move from the countryside into cities, and this movement has made Chonqing what is said to be not only the fastest growing urban centre in China, but in the world. Its municipality has more than 30 million residents. Wuhan, also on the Chang Jiang to the east of Chonqing, is another rapidly expanding city, which is acquiring a state-of-the-art traffic control system (see separate story).

But provinces even further to the west are remote and cut off, although this looks set to change in the coming years.

With the east of the country having manufacturing facilities for many worldwide industrial concerns including most of the world''s major construction equipment manufacturers, the country''s plan to construct a $242 billion, 85,000km national expressway network to connect all of the country''s major transportation hubs (railways, airports and ports) is understood to be encouraging some high-tech companies to look at opening up for business in China''s central and western regions where costs are lower.

The 85,000km of expressway, to be completed within the next two decades, will connect cities with a population of over 200,000 and is formed by seven lines from the capital Beijing, nine lines from north to south and 18 from east to west. It is known as the 7918 Network for an obvious reason, and will cover a region with a population of 1 billion people. Some 32,000km will be built in central and western regions.

From 2005 to 2010, the annual investment will be $17-18 billion, while from 2010 to 2020 the annual investment will be around $12 billion.

The construction fund will come from vehicle purchase tax, fees and taxes collected by local governments, state bonds, domestic investment and foreign investment. Unlike other freeway systems, almost all of the roads on the 7918 Network are toll roads that are largely financed by private companies under contract from provincial governments. The private companies raise money through bond and stock offerings and recover money through tolls, and the Chinese authorities are introducing measures designed to attract private financing to highway construction (see News section).

Efforts to impose a national gasoline tax to finance construction of the tollways met with opposition and it has been very difficult for both the Communist Party of China and the State Council to pass such a tax through the National People''s Congress of China.

Construction of expressways started in 1988 and on 1 January 1, 1989, China had just 147km of freeways. By 1 January, 2007, it had 45,600km of freeway, 4,400km of which were built in 2006.
Under the guideline of "beefing up the road coverage in eastern region, interconnecting the roads in central region and realising the accessibility of the expressway in western region," the network will connect Beijing with all provincial capitals, link major prefecture cities and cover the important counties.

The seven radiating expressways are the Beijing-Shanghai, Beijing-Taipei, Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao, Beijing-Kunming, Beijing-Urumchi, and Beijing-Harbin expressways.

China''s express highway system is set to expand to 65,000km by 2010; 85,000km by 2020, 120,000km by 2030, and 175,000km by 2050.

Reaching rural regions
Meanwhile, Chinese authorities have unveiled plans to build 1.2 million km of highways in rural areas as part of the country''s 11th five year plan (2006-2010) when new asphalt or concrete roads will link up to 7,530 townships and 89,970 administrative villages.
The aim is to provide access by surfaced roads to all of China''s townships. The authorities are helping to fund this infrastructure investment through vehicle purchase taxes, equivalent to some US$3.1 billion this year. In 2006 the country built and improved a record 325,000km of rural roads.

The need for new roads is acute. Sales of passenger vehicles jumped 24% to 3.54 million for the first seven months of 2007, reports the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. Overall vehicle output and sales from Chinese manufacturers are expected to hit a record 8.5 million this year. During 2006, China increased automobile production by 30%, bringing total output to 7 million vehicles, according to research by the Worldwatch Institute. This places China in third place in world car production behind the US and Japan and relegated Germany to fourth place with 5.8 million vehicles.

The Chinese authorities have also announced a programme to replace up to 6,000 bridges that are thought to be inadequate, following the recent fatal collapse of a 328m long structure close to completion. China''s rapid road growth has seen many new structures being erected quickly and with few controls on their quality, while many of the country''s older bridges are simply unable to cope with the growth in traffic volumes