Building pathways to prosperity for villagers

To minimize the impact of the international financial tsunami upon China and to contain the slowdown of the country's economic growth, the central government recently announced a staggering 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) stimulus package for the next two years to reactivate domestic demands. As an immediate measure, it has also decided to allot an added 100 billion yuan for this year.

Of the additional 100 billion yuan government fund, about 10 billion yuan is to be spent on road construction, according to Li Xinghua, director of the planning department of the Ministry of Transport. "Our ministry is committed to expanding the investment scale to 1 trillion yuan the next year, and will try to maintain a 20 percent growth rate year on year for the ensuing ones," he said.

It is estimated that the additional 10 billion yuan road construction fund will bring an aggregate of 40 billion yuan investment within this year and contribute as high as 30 billion yuan to the national economy in the first quarter the next year.