On PRC Transport Sector

• Main Author: Anna Borisovna Bardal
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Economic Research Institute of the Far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences 2020-04-01
• Series: Prostranstvennaâ Èkonomika
• Subjects: prc; transport complex; high-speed railways; freight turnover; length of highways; spatial distribution; transportation infrastructure; transport network
• Online Access: http://spatial-economics.com/eng/arkhiv-nomerov/2020-1/952-SE-2020-1-156-170

The paper regards tendencies in PRC transport complex from the moment the state was founded until present day. To general processes of economic development at certain key periods the authors relate development of spatial parameters of motor roads and railways, port infrastructure facilities and the operation scale of certain kinds of transport (freight turnover, volume of cargo transported, average length of transportation). The economic justification for post-war recovery, industrialization and transfer to the policy of openness and reform are also observed. There are changes shown as to indicators for freight and passenger transportation. The terms for a boost in the PRC sea and port infrastructure under the policy of openness and reform are outlined. This policy shapes the model of export-oriented economy. Rising living standards and orientation at promoting domestic demand were incentivized by high-speed railways and air traffic. The shift in the role of the PRC transport complex has been demonstrated: from the tertiary (service) sector of economy to the self-sustained entity of economic processes generating technologies, carrying out a transfer of innovations and participating in launching new export niches on the national and global markets. The importance of the transport complex as a tool of the PRC stabilization policy in the period of economic crises of 2008 and 2015 is presented. Investments into the transportation infrastructure in the periods of recession had a meaningful multiplicative effect and generated new jobs, secured a demand for the related industries (metallurgy, construction materials, transport engineering), brought down the cost of shipment, improved the environment of transportation and promoted domestic demand