Minister of Transport Yang Chuantang said on Friday said that China will try to connect every village with a concrete road by 2019, as part of a campaign to reduce rural poverty.
China still has 28,000 poverty-stricken villages mostly located in mountainous areas where road construction remains difficult, that lack access to asphalt or concrete roads, Yang said at a conference in northwest China's Gansu Province on poverty reduction.
China has 70 million rural residents officially classified as poor. By 2020, China has pledged to lift them out of poverty.
He said transportation would be a "vanguard commander" and lay foundations for the poverty reduction campaign.
According to Yang, By opening bus services, renovating ports and building bridges over the past five years, China has invested heavily in improving transportation in underdeveloped areas, making access easier to 42,000 villages.
By Ruchi Singh
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
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