As an artery supporting economic development, rural road construction will lay the foundation for rural revitalization. Rural roads are the transportation infrastructure with the widest coverage, the largest population, and the strongest public welfare in rural areas. The construction of rural roads is of great significance to complementing the shortcomings of rural transportation infrastructure, stimulating rural investment, stabilizing farmers' employment, and helping to promote rural revitalization in an all-round way. Recently, six departments including the Ministry of Transport issued the "Implementation Plan for Rural Roads to Expand Investment, Stabilize Employment and Better Serve Rural Revitalization" (hereinafter referred to as the "Implementation Plan"), which sets new goals and requirements for rural road construction. According to statistics, by the end of 2021, the mileage of rural roads in China will reach 4.466 million kilometers, an increase of 84,000 kilometers from the end of the previous year. "At present, there is a high demand from the farmers that the transportation construction projects should be tilted toward the villages and households, and a large number of projects have been reserved in various places, and the construction enthusiasm is high. There are relatively few restrictions on land use and sea use, the approval procedures are relatively simple, and the construction conditions are relatively mature." said Wu Chungeng, director of the Highway Bureau of the Ministry of Transport.

What are the new requirements for building more roads to prosperity?

According to reports, in response to the high voice of farmers, the "Implementation Plan" proposes to promote rural road construction projects to be more inclined to enter villages and households, encourage the opening of "broken roads" and smooth "micro-circulation". According to local conditions, promote the construction of natural villages (groups) with larger population scales and hardened roads leading to natural villages in the borders. In addition, it is necessary to give full play to the role of rural road construction in expanding investment and promoting growth. "Specifically, it is necessary to implement the five major projects of 'four good rural roads' to help rural revitalization." Wu Chungeng introduced, including speeding up the implementation of the backbone road network File upgrade and upgrade project, basic road network extension and improvement project, safety guarantee capability improvement project, industrial integration development project and service level improvement project.

On the one hand, it is necessary to make up for the related hardware shortcomings of rural road construction, and strengthen the construction of rural roads in old revolutionary areas, ethnic areas, frontier areas, underdeveloped areas, reclamation areas and forest areas; on the other hand, give play to rural roads to stimulate rural economic development To expand and develop service functions such as parking, charging, shopping, leisure, and sightseeing. Promote the in-depth integration and development of rural roads and industries, and accelerate the construction of rural industrial roads, tourism roads, and resource roads. Let the living water of the economy flow to the countryside, and empower and speed up the revitalization of the countryside.

Building more "roads to wealth" can also effectively drive jobs and incomes for the masses. The "Implementation Plan" proposes that in 2022, on the basis of striving to complete the original annual tasks of rural roads ahead of schedule, further strengthen financial and other policy support, implement a number of qualified "14th Five-Year Plan" projects ahead of schedule, and complete new reconstructions. 30,000 kilometers of rural roads, 30,000 kilometers of rural road safety and life protection projects, and 3,000 dangerous bridges on rural roads will be renovated. We will strive to complete an additional investment of about 100 billion yuan, and drive about 2 million people to find jobs nearby. At the same time, the number of jobs in the field of rural highway management and protection will be stabilized at about 800,000.

"It is necessary to promote the participation of farmers in construction, and establish and improve a long-term mechanism for the high-quality development of 'Four Good Rural Roads' and for absorbing people with employment difficulties." Wu Chungeng said that in the fields of rural road construction and management and protection, the promotion of food-for-work methods is a priority. Attract local rural people to participate in project construction and maintenance after completion, and drive local rural labor force to find employment and increase income nearby. At the same time, make good use of various employment positions such as public welfare positions in the field of rural highway management and protection, and encourage the daily maintenance of village roads and roads leading to natural villages (groups) by subcontracting, fixed-amount contracting, and other methods to be contracted by farmers along the line for maintenance, and further expand employment channels. Editor / Xu Shengpeng