BEIJING, China - -
China's Vice Minister of Construction, Qiu Baoxing, has
lashed at city authorities for making it harder for
cyclists to get around, saying the country should retain
its title as the "kingdom of bicycles."
He made the remarks here Wednesday at the first
International Conference on China's City Planning and
Development, which his ministry, the Chinese Society of
Urban Studies, organized.
Qiu noted that the number of motor vehicles on China's
roads rose 20 times between 1978 and 2004 and their
numbers could increase five fold again by 2020. In 2004
there were 27 million motor vehicles in the country and
that number could reach 130 million in 15 years, he said.
The explosion growth of motor vehicles has caused
severe traffic jams in major Chinese cities and is posing
a grave challenge to the country's energy security and
urban development, he said.
Qiu said while some Chinese cities are cutting back on
bicycle lanes in order to make more room for cars, some
Western cities are beginning to build more of cycling
paths.
The Ministry of Construction is firmly opposed to the
elimination of bicycle lanes and has ordered cities to
restore them, he said.
The large army of bicycles on the streets of Chinese
cities amazed the West when China first opened to the
outside world in early 1980s. It's estimated that there
were 500 million cyclists back then.
The number of cyclists has dropped as rapidly as
private car ownership has expanded.
Qiu said worsening traffic jams and air pollution won't
lead the government to restrict car ownership but it may
discourage driving by charging fees to drive downtown.
Other options include giving priority to the
development of public transportation systems and creating
more bus lanes, he said.
Published @ 28-06-2006 |
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