The reporter learned from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Transport Work Conference held on January 23 that this year the autonomous region plans to complete fixed asset investment of over 40 billion yuan in highway and waterway transportation, focus on improving the transportation network, fill infrastructure shortcomings, enhance the development vitality of poverty-stricken areas, advance institutional and mechanism reforms, improve supply quality, and lay a solid foundation for the decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

Bai Zhi, Director of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Department of Transportation, introduced that the main goals of the autonomous region's transportation industry this year are to complete 15,000 kilometers of highway construction, newly build and reconstruct 5,000 kilometers of rural and pastoral roads, add 200 incorporated villages with hardened roads, raise the good-excellent rate of trunk highways to 72.8%, control the overloading rates of expressways and trunk highways within 2% and 4% respectively, and further improve the level of transportation service guarantee.

In terms of filling infrastructure shortcomings, Inner Mongolia will actively promote the network formation of the main expressway skeleton, increase the upgrading and reconstruction of national and provincial roads, and strengthen rural and pastoral road construction. Research and issue implementation opinions on the high-quality development of "four good rural roads", increase the implementation of the "road chief system" and demonstration counties, promote the widening of narrow roadbeds and pavements on rural roads and the connection of incorporated villages with hardened roads, and implement road network improvement and "smooth-to-unsmooth" rectification projects. Strengthen project construction management and strive for the government to issue policies related to land acquisition and demolition for highway construction. Improve the level of infrastructure maintenance and management, concentrate on rectifying the road environment, gradually eliminate dangerous bridges on trunk highways, and complete the adjustment of highway network naming and numbering by the end of June. Start the compilation of the autonomous region's "14th Five-Year" transportation development plan, comprehensively consider the construction of the ecological economic belt along the Yellow River, the coordinated development of Hohhot-Baotou-Ordos, and the construction of Horinger New Area, and promote more projects to enter the national plan.

To fight the precise poverty alleviation battle, Inner Mongolia will promote the construction of national expressways and ordinary national and provincial trunk highways in poverty-stricken areas, and further open up the main external transportation channels. Accelerate the construction of tourist roads, resource roads, and industrial roads in poverty-stricken areas, and promote road construction in state-owned forest farms. Support the connection of hardened roads to relatively large natural villages in deeply impoverished banner counties, and start the construction of hardened roads to natural villages bordering the border. Improve the rural and pastoral transportation service network, newly build 3 rural passenger stations, 5 township comprehensive service stations, 100 rural highway waiting pavilions, and add 20 incorporated villages with bus services.

In 2018, Inner Mongolia completed a cumulative fixed asset investment of 55.4 billion yuan in highway transportation, started construction of 16,000 kilometers of highways, and added 3,200 kilometers of highways. The total mileage of highways in the region exceeded 200,000 kilometers, including 6,630 kilometers of expressways and 7,790 kilometers of first-class highways, and 101 banner counties have access to first-class and above highways. The total mileage of rural roads in the region reached 162,000 kilometers, and the bus access rate of incorporated villages reached 99.59%.