“With the bridge, travel is much more convenient”

　　At around 10 a.m. on the 10th, on the Canyu Port Bridge in Juzhuang Village, Dingyan Town, Rugao City, several elderly women leaned leisurely on the railings chatting in the warm winter sun. Villager Gu Guoping, returning from outside, rode his bicycle across the bridge. “With this bridge, going out is much more convenient.” This rural bridge was put into use in September this year, and Gu is one of its beneficiaries.

　　The Dingyan area has many rivers and waterways, which in the past made it very inconvenient for residents to travel. “Take our place: there is an east-west residential line where many households live, and a small river runs through it, dividing the residents into east and west sections.” Gu Guoping lives on the east side of the river. In the past, when he needed to go to the west side on business, he first had to ride a long way north and then detour west, which was very inconvenient. “It took time and effort; even in good weather it meant riding an extra 20 minutes. With this bridge, it takes only a minute or two to reach the west side. The government has done a great thing for us ordinary people!”

　　“To build a bridge, we first conduct on-site surveys and assessments, take various factors into account, determine the bridge site, and report the plan to higher-level departments.” Huang Zhigang, director of the Dingyan Town Finance Office, explained that once the plan is approved and the bridge site is fixed, the Rugao City Finance Bureau organizes unified bidding and construction. To ensure quality and progress, municipal and town (district) leaders in charge, full-time rural bridge administrators from finance offices, and project supervisors form a quality supervision network and hold rural bridge construction progress meetings regularly and irregularly, so the bridges are built both well and quickly. “That's really true. I thought it would take about a year, but who knew it would be finished in two months,” said an elderly woman basking in the sun happily.

　　It is understood that Dingyan Town built a total of 4 rural bridges this year, and next year's construction plan has already been submitted; by then 3 more rural bridges will be added.

　　Project progress:

　　More than 7,000 rural bridges built over ten years

　　The rural bridge construction project has been listed for many years as a “practical matter for the people” project of the municipal government. This year, the municipal government assigned 500 rural bridges for construction, while the province assigned a task of 640. As the lead department responsible for the rural bridge project, finance departments at all levels pressed ahead on their own initiative and pooled their efforts. The actual number reported for construction was 692, 52 more than the provincial task and 192 more than the municipal government's construction target. Financial input totaled 110.06 million yuan. By the end of November, the construction plans for all 692 rural bridges reported and filed citywide had basically been completed, exceeding the construction tasks assigned by the province and the city.

　　To ensure construction quality and progress, all localities adhered to the “six unifications” principle during construction: unified planning, unified drawing design, unified budget preparation and review, unified project bidding, unified project supervision, and unified completion acceptance, ensuring that rural bridges are safe and reliable, durable and practical, economically reasonable, and attractive. After completion acceptance of a rural bridge project, the finance department promptly handles asset transfer procedures. Rural bridge assets are owned by the town government, which implements a lifelong responsibility system for rural bridge safety management, making it part of the long-term rural management mechanism. Each town establishes a routine maintenance system for rural bridges, assigns responsible persons, implements accountability and investigation systems, and promptly organizes repairs of damaged rural bridges to ensure their safe operation and long-term effectiveness.

　　Rural bridge construction is a practical project of the municipal government for the people and a livelihood project that benefits farmers. As the lead department, the finance department, guided by the service philosophy of “benefiting farmers and reassuring the government,” strengthens departmental coordination, strictly manages funds, and establishes reporting, notification, and supervision systems, striving to do good deeds well and solidly. From 2003 to 2012, finance departments at all levels invested a total of 614 million yuan in our city, including 292 million yuan from the provincial finance department, 124 million yuan from the municipal finance department, and 198 million yuan from county finance departments. A total of 7,207 rural bridges were built, 1,930 more than the provincial construction task (5,277 bridges). Through continuous rural bridge construction, rural infrastructure throughout the city has undergone fundamental changes, eliminating rural traffic safety hazards and effectively promoting urbanization.