In 10 days, the same number of roads are built in China as were built in Russia in the entire 2008. Director of the Center for Research on Post-Industrial Society Vladislav Inozemtsev told how China builds roads that last 20 years, and why there is nothing complicated about it. The photographs show a network of expressways in the Chinese city of Shenzhen. “The construction of roads in China is carried out by the state, and most of them are free. There was an attempt to collect tolls, but it was quickly abandoned on a large scale. In China, roads are treated as an important tool for strengthening statehood, so much attention is paid to the problem. The pace of construction reaches 30 thousand kilometers of multi-lane highways per year, and its technologies (laying a base of concrete slabs and covering it with asphalt) ensure operation for 20-25 years. 
The Chinese are not doing anything supernatural - they take into account the growth rate of citizens' well-being, the increase in the number of cars and the growth in cargo transportation volumes. As for the low cost of their roads, it is explained by the low cost of labor and materials and the good organization of construction. In China, they focus on the costs that exist in other countries, reduce them by 2-2.5 times, and present these amounts to contractors. In Russia, money is allocated based on how much was spent in past periods. In China, payment is largely based on the results of the work. With us, money is immediately allocated to the contractor, and the quality is accepted by almost anyone. In China, the contractor insures the road from the amount received, and repairs are not made from budget funds, and from insurance companies. And the “corruption tax” in the Middle Kingdom is much less than in Russia.” 
Cost of 1 kilometer of a four-lane highway: China - $2.9 million, Brazil - $3.6 million, Russia - $12.9 million (Moscow - St. Petersburg highway from 15th to 58th km - $134 million; Fourth Ring of Moscow - about $400 million) From 2003 to 2008, 480 thousand kilometers of roads were built in China. The total length is 1.9 million kilometers. By 2020 it should reach 3 million kilometers. There are 300 thousand road bridges in China, 700 of them are longer than a kilometer.
Half a century ago, China was one of the most backward countries in terms of the length of paved roads. The Chinese government believed that there were more important tasks... The situation began to change only in the 80s, when it was understood that without modern road infrastructure it was impossible to continue. There was even a slogan: “If we want to get rich, we must first build roads.” At this time, the government adopted the first plan for the creation of a network of national expressways and corresponding quality standards were developed. We decided on sources of financing for construction (state budget funds, local budgets, road maintenance fees, additional duties when purchasing a car, excise taxes on fuel). Since 1985, all this has been formalized by separate laws (many organizational problems have not been resolved to this day). At the same time, the state allowed the introduction of tolls on high-class highways to return loans for construction.
The first expressway, Shanghai - Jiading (18.5 km), was opened in 1988, after which the construction of similar routes began to grow. Already in the first decade, China has achieved results in road construction that took Europe and the United States more than half a century to achieve! The construction of highways raised the level of all road construction and allowed a backward industry, where the main means of production were a shovel, a wheelbarrow, a hand roller and millions of low-paid workers, to reach modern level. Serious manufacturers of road equipment have emerged.
The construction of highways continues today, and at the same fantastic pace. By the beginning of the 21st century, their length exceeded 10 thousand km. In 2002 - already 20 thousand, and in 2008 - 60 thousand km! By the end of 2013, the total length highways exceeded 4.1 million km, including 104.5 thousand km of expressways. According to the Transport Development Program for the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011–2015), in the coming years a network of expressways will be formed in China that will connect all regions and almost all cities with a population of over 200 thousand people. Already today there are 300 thousand bridges in China (a thousand of them are more than a kilometer long). The country has taken second place in the world in terms of the number of modern roads, and all highways were built in 20 years!
SECRET TECHNOLOGIES
The Chinese have not invented anything new. Government and regional institutions are planning how the transport network should grow - taking into account the development of the economy, the direction of freight and passenger flows, and the growth in the number of cars. There is a lot of money in the country, including free money - money that can be used to create modern infrastructure. Rhetorical question: why didn’t they do this in Russia when the country was literally flooded with petrodollars? In 2005–2010, investments in the creation of a network of national expressways in China amounted to 17–18 billion US dollars per year, and now, when the main arteries have already been put into operation, they spend 12 billion annually.
Federal or local authorities completely control the construction, but it is carried out, as a rule, with the contractor’s money. And the state or regional government will pay him only after all the work is completed, and precisely within the amount specified in the contract. High rates are a direct result of such a system: builders want to return the money invested as quickly as possible. At the same time, without sacrificing quality: the specified service life of roads is, as a rule, at least 25 years.
MONEY ON THE TABLE
Most roads in China are free. There are also two types of toll roads: state (built at the expense of the budget) and commercial (built at the expense of companies’ own or borrowed funds). For a simple motorist there is no difference between them, but according to the law state road should become free after 15 years of operation, and commercial - after 25 years. Fee for passenger cars- from 0.25 to 0.6 yuan (1.3–3.3 rubles) per 1 km, depending on the time of day, season, etc. For trucks- from 3 to 7 rubles, which is not much different from European tariffs. But there are two differences from Europe or neighboring Japan. Firstly, all roads in cities are free, even if they are futuristic six-level interchanges, like in Shanghai. And in Tokyo, entry to the multi-level city freeway is paid. Secondly, there is not always a free alternative road, and in such cases each time a separate decision is made at the government level.
I've driven a lot on Chinese roads. To be honest, among them there are also old, broken ones, especially in the north of the country. But new roads, interchanges, bridges, as well as the pace of their construction are amazing. Sometimes the area is not recognizable: I remember that last year there was an open field here and some huts stood, but today there is a highway, and on the second level, and new interchanges are being built...
The most impressive thing was the Donghai Bridge, built three years ago. When you look at the map, you get the feeling that it leads to nowhere and ends in the open sea. But it's not like that. Shanghai's port, the world's largest by turnover, is located at the shallow mouth of the Yangtze River and cannot accommodate today's huge tankers and container ships. To solve this problem, a new port was built on the small island of Yanshan - just for such ships. And they connected the island to the mainland with a 32.5 km long bridge. Fantastic building! Six to eight traffic lanes, excellent coverage, lighting... It’s like driving on the open sea! So, Donghai was built in just three years! And this is not the longest bridge in China: in Shandong province there is a bridge over the Jiaozhou Bay that is 36.5 km long. And for reference: seven of the ten longest bridges in the world are in China.
BROTHERS - FOREVER?
How can Chinese experience be useful to us? What can we do together to defeat the first eternal Russian misfortune?
A number of joint projects are already being implemented: for example, new border crossings are being built on the Russian-Chinese border and highways leading to them. It is planned to build two bridges across the Amur: Blagoveshchensk - Haihe (there is already a project) and in the Trans-Baikal Territory, near the village of Pokrovka. Both Chinese and Russian companies will work. The largest road construction corporations in the Middle Kingdom are very interested in the opportunity to participate in our main infrastructure projects - the construction of the Central Ring Road in the Moscow region, a new expressway Western Europe- Western China (for them this is the most important transit direction!). And the main object that was targeted in recent months at least two leading Chinese companies - construction of a bridge across the Kerch Strait. As soon as this project became known, a large delegation of Chinese experts immediately arrived in Kerch. And it wasn’t just that they showed me the Donghai Bridge!
Chinese partners would like to invest about five trillion rubles in the development of our transport infrastructure over five years, and I believe that our cooperation has very good prospects, I am sure Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation Maxim Sokolov. - We have already managed to agree with partners on a number of key issues. Firstly, Russian and Chinese companies will work together at all stages. Secondly, Chinese banks and funds are ready to invest in joint projects, directly, in yuan and rubles. Thirdly, there is support actually high level both on our side and on the Chinese side.
It seems that the construction of a bridge across the Kerch Strait could be the first, but very serious, joint project. Judge for yourself: in difficult conditions, it is necessary to build a 19 km long bridge that will run along a dam across the island of Tuzla to Kerch. The Taman Peninsula, Tuzla and the Crimean coast will be connected by two spans of a two-tier combined road-railway bridge - 1.4 and 6.1 km long. And to approach the bridge it will be necessary to build at least 40 km of roads in Taman, 8 km of highway in Kerch, 17 km railways... The bridge will also serve as a support for water pipelines. Unfortunately, we have no experience in constructing facilities of this scale. European companies are no help here - they will not go to Crimea so as not to fall under sanctions. And the Chinese have a lot of experience: they are now building the longest bridge in the world: Macau - Hong Kong. Its length is 58 km.
750 meters per hour - this is the speed at which new roads are being built in China today. How did the “Chinese road miracle” happen and how can our neighbors’ experience help us?
The bridge and road construction records set by the Chinese are impressive. The other day they built an interchange for a new railway station in 9 hours.
1.5 hours - and the bridge is ready
1,500 workers and 23 excavators connected 3 major railway lines overnight to the new Nanlong line in southern China. At the same time, they not only paved the road, but also installed traffic lights and other means of control along it. As explained Deputy Head of the Tiesiju Civil Engineering Group - the main builder of railways in China Zhang Daosong, the project was completed in record time due to the fact that the workers were organized into 7 teams that simultaneously performed various tasks. But it is obvious that the secret of Chinese success is not only smart management.
It's also about technology. So, in 2016, the Chinese turned two bridges 100 m long by 90 degrees in 1.5 hours. Huge structures were assembled along the railway track and then installed perpendicularly on prepared supports. At the same time, the busy highway under the railway tracks was not blocked - everything happened right above the cars.
And in 2015, the Chinese dismantled the old one and assembled a new 6-lane road bridge in Beijing in 43 hours. During this time they also managed to apply markings. The new bridge surface required a 1,300-ton structure, which was transported ready-made. As the contractor's representative explained, it was used new technology"integrative replacement". Reconstruction in the usual way would have taken at least 2 months, but the key transport crossing in the northeast of Beijing, connecting the 3rd ring road, the airport expressway and Route 101, could not be blocked for so long.
They build in a week what we build in a year.
750 m per hour - this is the speed at which new roads are being built in the Middle Kingdom today. All expressways were built in the last 20 years! How did the “Chinese road miracle” happen and why can’t we adopt this experience?
“In terms of construction, China has long overtaken not only us, but the whole world,” AiF explained. President of the Union of Estimating Engineers Pavel Goryachkin. — By production volume building materials he is simply beyond competition, even the Americans are far behind. A simple example: we produce 79-80 million tons of cement per year, and the Chinese produce more than 1 billion tons! This is a serious indicator, especially since they do not export cement. They build as many roads in a week as we do in a year. We used to laugh at Chinese counterfeits, but they, like a sponge, absorb all new technologies. Now we are not talking about manual labor, when a million Chinese were rounded up and they dug some kind of pit with shovels. No! We are talking about high-tech construction. Today, the Chinese produce on their territory almost the entire range of necessary construction machinery and equipment. Chinese engineers study at best universities the world, undergo internships at the best construction sites, and this is supported in every possible way by the state. They understand that construction is one of the engines of the economy, and that’s why they invest. The Chinese are very hardworking and talented people. The technological solutions show how they are progressing.But even with the amount of money we pour into our construction projects, for some reason we can’t work like that. Of course, we can do something: the technology is modern, the market for building materials is developed, and there are engineers, but... In China, construction is a priority for the state, but over the past two years, we, builders, have only heard threats and insults from officials: they say we don’t need shared construction, all developers are thieves and crooks. Rosstat records a decrease in the volume of produced building materials by 10%. According to the Supreme Arbitration Court, builders are in the forefront in terms of the number of bankruptcies. What kind of industry development can there be here?!”
Let us add that in China, government and regional officials are planning how the transport network should grow, taking into account the development of the economy, the direction of cargo and passenger flows, and the growth in the number of cars. A lot of money is allocated for this. But, although the cost of 1 km of highway in our countries is approximately comparable, in the Middle Kingdom they are built many times faster and with better quality - the agreed service life of the highway there is 25 years.
The only good news is that our builders already have joint projects with the Chinese. The largest road construction corporations in the Celestial Empire want to invest in Russia, which means we need to learn and adopt their experience. And not only for engineers and builders, but also for managers.
OUT OF NOWHERE
Half a century ago, China was one of the most backward countries in terms of the length of paved roads. The Chinese government believed that there were more important tasks... The situation began to change only in the 80s, when it was understood that without modern road infrastructure it was impossible to continue. There was even a slogan: “If we want to get rich, we must first build roads.” At this time, the government adopted the first plan for the creation of a network of national expressways and corresponding quality standards were developed.
We decided on sources of financing for construction (state budget funds, local budgets, road maintenance fees, additional duties when purchasing a car, excise taxes on fuel). Since 1985, all this has been formalized by separate laws (many organizational problems have not been resolved to this day). At the same time, the state allowed the introduction of tolls on high-class highways to return loans for construction.
The first expressway, Shanghai - Jiading (18.5 km), was opened in 1988, after which the construction of similar routes began to grow. Already in the first decade, China has achieved results in road construction that took Europe and the United States more than half a century to achieve! The construction of highways raised the level of all road construction and allowed a backward industry, where the main means of production were a shovel, a wheelbarrow, a hand roller and millions of low-paid workers, to reach a modern level. Serious manufacturers of road equipment have emerged.
The construction of highways continues today, and at the same fantastic pace. By the beginning of the 21st century, their length exceeded 10 thousand km. In 2002 - already 20 thousand, and in 2008 - 60 thousand km! By the end of 2013, the total length of highways exceeded 4.1 million km, including 104.5 thousand km of expressways. According to the Transport Development Program for the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), in the coming years a network of expressways will be formed in China that will connect all regions and almost all cities with a population of over 200 thousand people. Already today there are 300 thousand bridges in China (a thousand of them are more than a kilometer long). The country has taken second place in the world in terms of the number of modern roads, and all highways were built in 20 years!
All of China is covered by a network of expressway toll roads, some of which have no free alternative. Drivers pay, but don’t complain: after all, you can quickly get to any point in the country!
SECRET TECHNOLOGIES
The Chinese have not invented anything new. Government and regional institutions are planning how the transport network should grow - taking into account the development of the economy, the direction of freight and passenger flows, and the growth in the number of cars. There is a lot of money in the country, including free money - money that can be used to create modern infrastructure. Rhetorical question: why didn’t they do this in Russia when the country was literally flooded with petrodollars? In 2005-2010, investments in creating a network of national expressways in China amounted to 17-18 billion US dollars per year, and now, when the main arteries have already been put into operation, they spend 12 billion annually.
Federal or local authorities completely control the construction, but it is carried out, as a rule, with the contractor’s money. And the state or regional government will pay him only after all the work is completed, and precisely within the amount specified in the contract. High rates are a direct result of such a system: builders want to return the money invested as quickly as possible. At the same time, without sacrificing quality: the specified service life of roads is, as a rule, at least 25 years.
MONEY ON THE TABLE
Most roads in China are free. There are also two types of toll roads: state (built at the expense of the budget) and commercial (built at the expense of companies’ own or borrowed funds). For an ordinary motorist there is no difference between them, but according to the law, a state road must become free after 15 years of operation, and a commercial road after 25 years.
Toll for cars - from 0.25 to 0.6 yuan (1.3-3.3 rubles) per 1 km, depending on the time of day, season, etc. For trucks - from 3 to 7 rubles, which is not much different from European tariffs. But there are two differences from Europe or neighboring Japan. Firstly, all roads in cities are free, even if they are futuristic six-level interchanges, like in Shanghai. And in Tokyo, there is a fee to enter the multi-level city freeway. Secondly, there is not always a free alternative road, and in such cases each time a separate decision is made at the government level.
I've driven a lot on Chinese roads. To be honest, among them there are also old, broken ones, especially in the north of the country. But new roads, interchanges, bridges, as well as the pace of their construction are amazing. Sometimes the area is not recognizable: I remember that last year there was an open field here and some huts stood, but today there is a highway, and on the second level, and new interchanges are being built...
The most impressive thing was the Donghai Bridge, built three years ago. When you look at the map, you get the feeling that it leads to nowhere and ends in the open sea. But it's not like that. Shanghai's port, the world's largest by turnover, is located at the shallow mouth of the Yangtze River and cannot handle today's huge tankers and container ships. To solve this problem, a new port was built on the small island of Yanshan - just for such ships. And they connected the island to the mainland with a 32.5 km long bridge.
Fantastic building! Six to eight traffic lanes, excellent coverage, lighting... It’s like driving on the open sea! So, Donghai was built in just three years! And this is not the longest bridge in China: in Shandong province there is a bridge over Jiaozhou Bay that is 36.5 km long. And for reference: seven of the ten longest bridges in the world are in China.
Shanghai, with a population of 20 million, is quite successful in solving its transport problems. The main “secret of the company” is to build as many new roads and interchanges as possible.
BROTHERS - FOREVER?
How can Chinese experience be useful to us? What can we do together to defeat the first eternal Russian misfortune?
A number of joint projects are already being implemented: for example, new border crossings are being built on the Russian-Chinese border and highways leading to them. It is planned to build two bridges across the Amur: Blagoveshchensk - Haihe (there is already a project) and in the Trans-Baikal Territory, near the village of Pokrovka. Both Chinese and Russian companies will work. The largest road construction corporations in the Celestial Empire are very interested in the opportunity to participate in our main infrastructure projects - the construction of the Central Ring Road in the Moscow region, the new Western Europe - Western China highway (for them this is the most important transit direction!). And the main object that at least two leading Chinese companies have set their sights on in recent months is the construction of a bridge across the Kerch Strait. As soon as this project became known, a large delegation of Chinese experts immediately arrived in Kerch. And it wasn’t just that they showed me the Donghai Bridge!
“Chinese partners would like to invest about five trillion rubles in the development of our transport infrastructure over five years, and I believe that our cooperation has very good prospects,” said Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov. - We have already managed to agree with partners on a number of key issues. Firstly, Russian and Chinese companies will work together at all stages. Secondly, Chinese banks and funds are ready to invest in joint projects, directly, in yuan and rubles. Thirdly, there is support at the highest level both from our side and from China.
Reference
By the way, on average, the construction of 1 km of four-lane highway in China costs $2.9 million. We have about $7 million, but this includes funds for the purchase of land, relocation of communications and other expenses, which amount to 40-50% of the total amount. So the prices are comparable. But for some reason the results are different: in our country a little more than 600 km of roads are built a year, and in China – up to 10,000 km! True, in China they invested up to 4% of GDP in road construction, and in our country - only 1%... So it turns out that now the total length of paved roads in China is 4.5 times greater than in Russia. But 30 years ago the Chinese had nothing to brag about. Maybe in a few decades they will improve our roads too?
An article about roads in China: the history of roads, how roads are built in China now, the secrets of the strength and durability of Chinese roads. At the end of the article there is a video about how the Chinese build roads.
Contents of the article:
For China, roads have become a kind of symbol of successful government policy aimed at strengthening the country. Considerable attention is paid to the quality and speed of construction of highways that penetrate the entire country and make it possible to easily cover considerable distances.
The “old” China of half a century ago was an undeveloped country based on an agrarian-oriented economy. The Communist Party believed that there were a number of more pressing issues for the development of the state than the need to build roads.
As a result, the state was at the bottom of the ranking of countries in the world in terms of the length of asphalt roads. In 1949, all the country’s transport arteries totaled a little over 80 thousand kilometers.
The density of roads was vanishingly insignificant - there were only 0.8 kilometers of roads per 100 square kilometers of area.
In the photo: a road in China in the 30s
After the creation of the People's Republic of China, a course was taken to restore the destroyed civil war farms. It was necessary to establish internal communications, and this required roads.
By 1952, the Chinese government managed to increase the length of highways to 126,700 kilometers.
In the 1950s, the country needed to expand its suitable economic zone, which entailed the development of border, previously unclaimed areas. The scale of construction was shocking - new roads were laid in hard-to-reach mountainous areas country, a network of roads began to develop in border areas. In those days, highways were built from Sichuan to Tibet, from Qinghai to Tibet.
The emergence of communist statehood required strengthening the country's defense capability and the mobility of troops. Therefore, for defense purposes, the construction of roads was undertaken in the southeast, northeast, southwest and along the coastal line of the PRC.
Economic growth meant that by the end of the 1950s the total length of paved roads had increased to 500,000 kilometers.
The 1960s were marked by the ongoing large-scale construction of transport routes. The emphasis was on strengthening technical re-equipment, and the length of paved roads continued to increase. Roads with surfaces of the highest and highest classes have appeared, allowing for significant speeds.
The mid-70s were marked by a complete renovation and expansion of the route from Qinghai to Tibet. As a result of the rework, the highway became the first asphalt road in the world located so high above sea level.
In the photo: Qinghai-Tibet road
Taking into account the complex terrain of the Celestial Empire and its cultural traditions, in parallel with the development of road construction, it was also necessary to create bridges that would be durable and fit into the classical Chinese canon.
During this period, bridges of the so-called “Chinese specifics” were built - arched structures made of stone, reinforced concrete and beams had double bends, withstanding pre-tension.
Over the thirty years since the creation of the PRC, despite the difficulties of economic development, road construction has developed, demonstrating stable growth. By the end of the 1970s, roads had reached a length of 900,000 kilometers, which meant an average annual “growth” of road surfaces of 30,000 kilometers. The density of roads has increased, amounting to 9.3 kilometers per 100 square kilometers.
Rethinking the role of transport arteries at the government level led to active work at lower levels of government; the propaganda machine was “turned on”, calling on all fellow citizens to the fact that if the country wants to become prosperous and rich, then for this it is necessary to build good roads.
The government of the country has launched a plan to build an extensive network of national highways and national expressways. The plan contained a key goal, and the path to achieving it was divided into stages. At the same time, the scale of road construction has steadily increased, and the quality of roads has improved.
They even developed a special quality standard for the road surface, which was strictly observed.
The emergence of high-speed, high-quality roads has transformed the backward road industry into a very prosperous one. The financing of the grandiose road project has undergone a change, and additional financial sources began to appear.
In addition to the amounts allocated from the state and local budgets, excise taxes on fuel were introduced. In 1984, the State Council of the Republic decided to increase the fee for road maintenance and began collecting the newly introduced duties for the purchase of a car. It was allowed to charge money for travel on high-quality highways.
Since 1985, legislative acts ensuring stability of financing for the “construction of the century” have poured in as if from a cornucopia. Supported by the government, the industry managed to reach a total road length of 1,350,000 kilometers by the end of the century, with a total road density of 14 kilometers per 100 square kilometers. Category 2 roads grew from 1.3% in the late 1970s to 12.5% by the turn of the 21st century.
The condition of central roads connecting cities has improved. The level of rural and county highways has increased, their quality has become better, some provinces proudly reported that 100% asphalt was laid on all roads from the second class and above, using new technologies. As a result, this led to the fact that in all districts of the country, roads were built in most populated areas, including small villages.
In the photo: mountain road in China
Expressways have become the best example of road construction. When the first 18.5-kilometer Jiading-Shanghai short expressway was launched in 1988, it was tested to ensure the reliability and correctness of the technology.
In a decade of construction, China has accomplished a volume of work that would have taken developed countries at least forty years to complete. The level of road construction has grown from a primitive shovel and a wheelbarrow attached to a bicycle to manufacturers of high-tech road equipment. The gap between China and countries that are prosperous in terms of economic development has been rapidly narrowing.
Appetite comes with eating…
In the photo: modern road construction in China
Currently, the growth rate of multi-lane roads in China is about 30,000 kilometers annually, and the technology, which consists of laying concrete slabs poured on top of concrete, guarantees a 25-year “shelf life” under conditions of continuous use.
Given the severity of Chinese legislation, road workers are subject to penalties in case of violation of construction standards for the entire warranty period. The punishments are strict, but, as a result, the roads are excellent.
The growth rate of roads in the Middle Kingdom has reached fantastic speeds. At the beginning of the 21st century, 10,000 kilometers of roads were built. Two years later there were already 20,000 kilometers, in 2008 - 60,000 kilometers, and in 2013 China already owned 4 million kilometers of roads, of which a tenth were modern highways!
By 2020, according to the government decision, the total length of roads in China should be at least 3,000,000 kilometers.
The Chinese demonstrated a serious attitude by adopting the Transport Development Program (until 2015). According to the Program, the entire country was penetrated by a network of expressways connecting all cities with a population exceeding the threshold of 200,000 people.
Today there are more than 300,000 bridges in China, of which more than a thousand are more than a kilometer long. Of the seven longest bridges in the world, by the way, seven are located in China!
A recently erected building is often used as an example. So that the port in Shanghai could receive large-capacity ships, a special port was built on a neighboring island, to which an eight-lane road was built from the mainland over a bridge, the length of which was 32.5 kilometers! Construction lasted three years, during which time a bridge was built, equipped with high-quality coating and lighting.
In the photo: Donghai Bridge
The country ranks second in the world in terms of the number of existing highways, and this despite the fact that all highways have been built within just 20 years.
Authorities at all levels keep construction under control, although money for it comes from contractors. The state pays the contractor only after the work is completely completed. Moreover, no price increases or going beyond the limit of the established contract amount are allowed.
The high speed of construction is largely the result of such a policy, because the faster and better the road is built, the faster the return on investment.
The sad thing is that in ten days the Chinese build approximately the same amount of roads as the entire Russian road service “mastered” in 2008.
The "secret ingredient" of Chinese builders
Pictured: multi-level interchange in Shanghai
There is a large supply of money circulating in China, which is used to maintain the necessary infrastructure. They try to build roads with the latest technology, thus bypassing the investment of money in their innovation in the near future.
In the period from 2005 to 2010, investment in the national highway network amounted to up to 18 billion dollars annually, but now that all highways are operational, costs have decreased slightly, amounting to 12 billion. The roads of the Middle Kingdom have reached a quality that even European highways cannot boast of, except Italian.
Technological rules make China's roads the best. The main thing is to follow simple and effective scheme construction:
- a plump cushion of sand and gravel is poured;
- metal reinforcement is laid on top;
- everything is filled with concrete;
- the concrete is rolled into a thick layer of asphalt.
How the movement is organized
Any movement of transport and speed limits in the country are constantly monitored:
- cameras are installed everywhere;
- a single violation of the speed limit adds a penalty point to the driver’s record;
- it is permissible to score 12 points per year, if you get more, you are deprived of your rights and sent for retraining;
- Foreigners cannot drive cars.
- China – 2.9;
- Brazil – 3.6;
- Russia – 13.
In China, it is customary to study the costs of the global road market, and then charge domestic contractors half the amount. Payment is made only upon completion of the work, and the quality should satisfy even the most picky commission, which does not accept any rework.
The contractor independently insures the constructed highway, making repairs using insurance funds.
What roads are there in China?
Pictured: 50-lane road in China
Most highways in the Middle Kingdom are free. There are two types of paid ones:
- state (budgetary);
- commercial (personal).
Conclusion
Economic development is impossible without good roads. China is not doing anything special, although economic growth is called nothing less than a miracle. Thoughtful government program, multiplied by a system of adequate punishments and rewards, found sources of financing - these are the components of China’s success in road construction!
Video about how the Chinese build roads: