BEIJING, May 19 (UPI) -- China, fighting urban congestion and pollution, plans to extensively develop public transportation in its cities in the next five years.
The assurance was given Wednesday by Chinese Vice Minister of Construction Qiu Baoxing in his remarks to National Urban Public Transportation Conference in Beijing, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Qiu said foreign experiences had shown giving priority to public transport will both help ease urban traffic jams and improve urban living environment.
Qiu said the new plan calls for adding public buses, subways, taxis and ferries.
In the next five years, China's super-big cities like Beijing are expected to increase the proportion of their urban public transport to 30 percent of the total, while the proportion in other cities is expected to exceed 20 percent.
Qiu said China will also speed up reform of the urban public transport enterprises, inviting domestic and foreign investors to join the franchised operation of urban public traffic.
Qiu also called for all local governments to take ways to develop rural public transport systems.
