Safety and quality are the top priorities for
China's transport infrastructure construction, the State Council, China's
cabinet said yesterday.
A
strict mechanism for transport safety supervision and quality management should
be established in coordination with the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15),
according to a statement issued by the State Council, after an executive
meeting presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao.
The
mechanism should cover every stage of the construction from planning, design
and construction to operation, it said.
Efforts
should be made to advance technology and improve equipment, it added.
The
meeting, which discussed and adopted the 12th Five-Year Plan for building a
comprehensive transport system, also agreed that transport infrastructure can
be "moderately advanced", and private investment is encouraged in the
infrastructure construction.
China
aims to form a comprehensive transport network by 2015, which has five
east-west arteries and five north-south arteries as the backbones.
The
national high-speed railway network and the national expressway network are
both expected to take shape during the period. The civil aviation network is
expected to further expand.
Around
the country, there will be 42 national comprehensive transport hubs under the
plan.
The
emphasis on safety and quality at the State Council's executive meeting is in
response to growing public worries over the safety of the country's sprawling
transport network.
Last
year, 40 people were killed and nearly 200 injured in a train crash in Wenzhou,
Zhejiang province. After a thorough investigation, the State Council concluded
that serious design flaws in the control equipment used at Wenzhou South
Railway Station and sloppy management caused the crash.
Media
reported last week that the ground subsided under a stretch of a high-speed
rail line between Wuhan and Yichang, which is set to open in May. Concerns were
raised over the railway's safety after an earthwork supplier disclosed that the
builder did not consolidate the railway foundation as designed.
Yang
Hao, a professor specializing in transport at Beijing Jiaotong University, said
that problems mainly exist in the supervision of the construction process and
construction quality, as well as in railway operation management.
"In
the past, railway operation relied on human management," he said.
"That's not enough now. It's time to install more high-tech equipment to
assist the management of railway operation."
The
meeting also discussed and passed the 12th Five-Year Plan for the national
project on safe drinking water in rural areas.
Further
efforts are required to guarantee the safety of drinking water for the 298
million rural residents and 114,000 rural schools, while supplying 80 per cent
of the rural areas with water.
The
project should have an overall plan, taking all factors into consideration, the
statement said, adding that priority should be given to improve the quality of
water that has seriously affected people's health and tackling the water
shortage in certain areas.
However,
taking into consideration the actual conditions of an area, local government
can carry out a gradual implementation by installing scattered water supply
facilities in some areas instead of covering the whole rural region with
centralised ones, the statement said.
A
prevention and governance system for water quality is also necessary to curb
water pollution.
The
conference also emphasised the importance of encouraging the participation of
farmers while promoting water conservation.
Xin
Dingding and Zheng Xin
China
Daily
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