A five-year plan to develop China’s modern transportation was issued by the State Council on Feb 28.

The circular listed major tasks that include improving transportation networks, enhancing smart transportation, promoting green transportation, and developing new business modes in transportation.

By 2020, high-speed railways will reach 30,000 kilometers — compared with 19,000 in 2015 — covering over 80 percent of cities with more than one million permanent residents. Railways, expressways and civil airports are expected to cover cities with permanent populations of over 200,000. Expressway mileage is expected to reach 150,000 kilometers and the number of civic airports 260.

The plan called for improvements in transportation networks concerning high-speed railways, expressways, airports, waterways and oil and gas pipelines. It includes building 10 horizontal and 10 vertical comprehensive transport corridors that interconnect east and west China, and north and south China. Transport corridors in central, west and northeast China were also highlighted.

Meanwhile, most villages should be connected to asphalt or concrete roads, said the document. And the maintenance of existing roads in rural areas should be strengthened and improved.

The Belt and Road Initiative is a keyword in future transportation. More international transport corridors should be built, connecting China with Europe, North Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia and Far East, according to the document. Construction of the modern Maritime Silk Road should also be accelerated, with its center in East China’s Fujian province.

Transportation should be used to help urbanization and balanced development among regions, including the coordinated development among Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province, and in the economic corridor along Yangtze River.

Transportation should also be connected with poverty alleviation. More roads, railways, and shipping waterways should be built in poor regions, such as ethnic group regions and remote areas.

More urban subway networks should be built, covering cities with permanent residents of over 3 million.

Transport hubs should be improved in terms of their passenger and freight services. Postal service, express delivery and logistics should also be developed in efficiency and service quality.

Transportation enterprises are encouraged to go abroad, participating in the construction of overseas transport infrastructure and promoting the export of China-made transport equipment.

Cutting-edge technologies should be developed in various fields, such as high-speed railways, electric locomotives, maglev trains and passenger planes.

Smart transportation is emphasized in the document. Information technologies should be integrated with transportation, including cloud computing, big data, internet of things and mobile internet, in order to upgrade its service and management and administrative supervision.

Transportation should be developed in a greener way, said the document. Public transport should enjoy more support in cities. Old high-energy consumption autos and ships should be phased out and environment-friendly transportation should be encouraged, with more public support facilities such as charging stations being built.

New transport businesses are encouraged, according to the circular. Aviation industry should be promoted to connect with tourism, culture, and internet industry. Transportation should also be encouraged to cooperate with internet and logistics, to build an integral and smart logistics industry.

Administrative reform on transportation should be promoted. More red tape should be cut and simplified. Airspace management should be reformed. More low-altitude space should be open, according to the document.

Market access and price mechanism on civil aviation and railways should be further eased for fair competition. Public-Private-Partnerships should be also promoted in transportation, the document added.