Located in the Yangtze River hinterlands, landlocked Anhui in central People’s Republic of China (PRC) is one of the country’s least developed provinces. In 2007, its per capita gross domestic product (GDP) was 64% of the national average, 47% of its counties were officially designated poverty counties, rural poverty incidence was 10.5%, and rural per capita income comprised less than a third that in urban areas. Poverty and urban–rural disparity, reinforced by inadequate road infrastructure and high transport costs, were major issues reflected on a broader scale by the central region’s slower pace of development than the rest of the PRC.
To address the situation, the Government of the PRC implemented the Central Region Development Strategy in 2004, which prioritized the development of a transport network to transform the region into a major hub linking east and west, and north and south. In support of the strategy, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a loan of $200 million for the Anhui Integrated Transport Sector Improvement Project in December 2009. The project also backed the Anhui provincial government’s eastward transport development strategy, which aimed to increase passenger and freight movements with more affluent eastern provinces and attract more investment to the province. Both strategies built on Anhui’s strategic location along the Yangtze River, PRC’s longest river, that connects 11 provinces from the East China Sea to Sichuan. The project had 4 planned outputs: (i) improved road infrastructure in the Xuzhou-Mingguang corridor, (ii) improved local roads and traffic safety practices, (iii) better rural village bus services, and (iv) strengthened institutional capacity.
A 139-kilometer (km), 4-lane Xuzhou and Mingguang expressway (XME) was constructed. 452 km in 9 local roads were upgraded, complete with enhanced safety and surface and slope protection measures. Traffic decongestion and highway safety guidelines were also developed. Due to already well-established bus routes, 2 townships were dropped from the third component’s scope. In the sole pilot village that remained, bus stops were constructed, and main bus lines were operated according to demand-driven frequency and timing. Similarly, a local roads management financing framework study under the fourth component was dropped because of a change in policy that transferred the responsibility for local roads financing and investment from the Anhui Provincial Department of Transport (APDOT) to the local governments. International trainings were reduced. Capacity-building instead focused on construction workers’ training in environmental management, health, and safety practices.
Notwithstanding the changes, the project achieved its planned outcome of an efficient, safe, and sustainable transport system that resulted in increased traffic on the XME, reduced travel time between Xuzhou and Mingguang, lesser vehicle operating costs and fuel consumption, reduced carbon dioxide emissions, and decreased traffic fatality rate. Timely completion of the XME comprised the key pillar for the project’s highly successful performance. Despite not being completely open to traffic because of the still ongoing construction of the 4-km link road to the Jiangsu province, the project at completion was established to have already helped enhance economic efficiency and double Anhui’s trade volume from 2010 to 2015, facilitate interregional integration, and increase the rural poor’s income in 14 counties. Because of its outstanding technological innovations and extensive resource conservation, the project received a series of awards, including the first-class science and technology achievement from the China Highway and Transport Society and the top prize in the Anhui Provincial Transport Science and Technology Innovation.
APDOT was the executing agency. In addition to the project management office, which carried out component 4 and managed the project day-by-day, 3 units within APDOT acted as implementing agencies: the Anhui Communications Investment Group Co. Ltd for component 1, the Anhui Highway Administration Bureau for component 2, and the Anhui Transportation Administration Bureau for component 3.
