China News Service, Chengdu, May 11 (Cheng Zhao) The Information Office of the People’s Government of Sichuan Province held a special press conference in Chengdu on the 11th titled “Starting the ’15th Five-Year Plan’ Well” for Sichuan. At the conference, Dong Weimin, member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee and Executive Vice Governor of the Provincial People’s Government, stated that Sichuan, once known for “difficult roads in Shu,” has now achieved “accessible roads in Shu,” and the next step is to realize “smooth roads in Shu.”
In recent years, Sichuan has continuously increased investment in transportation infrastructure construction, constantly opening up internal connections and external smooth channels. As a major inland province, how Sichuan can leverage major breakthroughs in transportation to enhance its openness became one of the media’s concerns at the press conference.
Dong Weimin introduced that Sichuan’s high-quality development is accompanied by major transportation development. “Accessible roads in Shu” has two landmark changes. First, from the perspective of external channels, Sichuan is accelerating the transformation of its gateway hub. The Chengdu International Aviation Hub operates 104 international (regional) passenger and cargo routes, reaching 46 countries globally, with passenger throughput exceeding 90 million person-times, ranking third in the country; the China-Europe Railway Express operates over 2,000 trains annually, and the first international road transport consolidation center in Southwest China has been established in Sichuan.
With the continuous improvement of the channel system, “Made in Sichuan” products are efficiently going overseas via the “Air Silk Road” and “Steel Camel Caravan.” Caviar from the mountains is rushed fresh into European restaurants, while Nordic salmon and Southeast Asian durians are distributed nationwide from Sichuan. Dong Weimin stated that Sichuan’s total import and export volume has now exceeded one trillion yuan.
Another change comes from the internal road network. Dong Weimin introduced that Sichuan is accelerating the realization of comprehensive connectivity across the entire region: operating and under-construction railways cover 21 cities and prefectures, with operating mileage exceeding 7,000 kilometers; the completion of the Chengdu-Kunming Railway double track has driven the Greater and Lesser Liangshan areas into the “high-speed rail era”; the opening of the Chengdu-Huangshangguan section of the Sichuan-Qinghai Railway has changed the history of no railway in northwestern Sichuan; the province’s expressway mileage has exceeded 110,000 kilometers, ranking third in the country, and the “four directions, eight corridors” comprehensive transportation corridor has been basically completed.
Looking toward the “15th Five-Year Plan,” Sichuan will promote “accessible roads in Shu” to a higher level of “smooth roads in Shu,” building a national comprehensive three-dimensional transportation hub.
In terms of railways, Sichuan will implement the international railway corridor project, accelerate the construction of the Sichuan-Tibet Railway and the Chengdu-Dazhou-Wanzhou High-Speed Railway, speed up the completion of the main western corridor of the New Western Land-Sea Corridor, improve the China-Europe Railway Express (Chengdu-Chongqing) consolidation center, and continuously improve the cluster corridor that smoothly connects advanced productive forces and links with the Belt and Road Initiative.
In terms of aviation, Sichuan will accelerate the second phase construction of Tianfu Airport, build a world-class airport cluster in Chengdu-Chongqing, continuously increase international routes, and construct an all-around gateway composite international aviation hub. In terms of water transport, it will implement the “Unblock One River” shipping revitalization development action, collaboratively build the upper Yangtze River shipping center, accelerate the connection of the province of a thousand rivers to the sea, and promote regional co-prosperity through watershed economy. In terms of highways, it will densify and expand expressways, promote the “Weave Dense Three Prefectures Network” road network filling and quality improvement action, turning more inland endpoints into open nodes.
Dong Weimin stated that as “difficult roads in Shu” moves toward “accessible roads in Shu” and further develops into “smooth roads in Shu,” Sichuan will comprehensively improve the quality and efficiency of open economy development, build a high-quality Belt and Road Initiative import and export commodity distribution center, implement the pilot free trade zone upgrading strategy, vigorously develop service trade, digital trade, and green trade, promote market diversification and integration of domestic and foreign trade, and drive “Sichuan-brand” products to better reach the global market.
At the same time, Sichuan will also coordinate the utilization of foreign investment and foreign investment cooperation, introduce and implement a batch of high-quality major foreign-funded projects, orderly participate in cross-border industrial chain and supply chain cooperation, support qualified enterprises in carrying out mutually beneficial investment cooperation, and drive products, equipment, services, brands, and standards to “go global.” (End)
