Skip to main content

China making plans to boost toll roads

China is considering regulations that would allow road operators to levy a toll on users beyond the current 15 to 30-year limit, according to Bloomberg. The plan would potentially boost an industry that has been plagued by losses as companies struggle to earn enough to cover their debt and operating costs. “The extension of the tolling period can help to woo private investors into highway development,” said Zhu Haibin, chief China economist at JPMorgan Chase in Hong Kong. The plan shows the government’s
August 7, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
China is considering regulations that would allow road operators to levy a toll on users beyond the current 15 to 30-year limit, according to Bloomberg. The plan would potentially boost an industry that has been plagued by losses as companies struggle to earn enough to cover their debt and operating costs.

“The extension of the tolling period can help to woo private investors into highway development,” said Zhu Haibin, chief China economist at JPMorgan Chase in Hong Kong. The plan shows the government’s desire to promote joint government and private-sector projects, he said.

China’s government is trying to avoid incurring massive debt to stimulate the economy, opting instead to inject money into lenders and free up more commercial-bank reserves for lending. Extending toll collection by 10 years would generate $640 billion more revenue, according to Bloomberg’s calculations based on last year’s fee revenue.

Related Content

  • IRF Geneva leads UN road safety meeting
    October 5, 2022
    The International Road Federation (IRF) in Geneva convened key industry leaders to discuss “Action for Road Safety: Private Sector Leadership” on the occasion of the UN High Level Meeting on Global Road Safety hosted in New York
  • Covid-19 risks creating US ‘transit death spiral’
    July 24, 2020
    Ridership is way down and the government is urged to find more money to help
  • Substantial savings from smarter street lighting
    February 25, 2015
    As authorities strive to reduce expenditure and carbon emissions, Colin Sowman looks at some of the smart ways of managing street lighting while containing costs and maintaining safety. Street lighting can account for 40% of an authority’s energy consumption. So, faced with the need to reduce outgoings, some authorities are looking for smart ways of managing street lighting or even turning off swathes of street lights in the small hours. Back in 2008 the E-street Initiative report concluded that authorities
  • America’s legislature to consider the future of 5.9GHz
    September 26, 2014
    Colin Sowman catches up with the latest moves in the 5.9GHz exclusivity debate. The Wi-Fi Innovation Act, recently introduced to both the US Senate and its House of Representatives, moves into a new phase in the debate over the exclusive right of the 5.9GHz band for Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) communications. If the Act comes into law, it would require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to conduct tests across the whole 5GHz band to determine if the spectrum can be shared without interfering with curr