Photo:Xinhua
 

The Ministry of Transport said on Saturday that no highway tolls will be levied effectively from Monday till the novel coronavirus epidemic (COVID-19) comes to an end.

The announcement, posted on the ministry's website, said the date of termination of the new policy will be announced later.

The move came as 300 million migrant workers are returning to cities for jobs and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang urged transport authorities to curb the transmission of the deadly virus that might spread during travel peaks as well as to ensure the smooth traffic flow, which is important for the orderly resumption of work and production on Friday.

Premier Li urged multiple measures to stagger people's return trips to cities after the Chinese Lunar New Year holidays to minimize the COVID-19 epidemic transmission, which has claimed the lives of more than 1,500 people by Saturday afternoon.

All kinds of vehicles, including buses and trucks, will be exempted from the tolls when passing through the nation's highways, or crossing the bridges and tunnels. 

Vice Transport Minister Liu Xiaoming said at a press conference on Saturday the ministry anticipated a total of 300 million trips on various transportations as China's migrant workers return to jobs in cities and students return to schools. About 80 million trips have already been made so far and another 120 million trips will be made by the end of February. Besides, another 1.3 million trips are estimated in March.

On average, a total of 5.99 road trips were recorded on the nation's highway system since February 9, which is down 78 percent compared with that of the previous year, the ministry said. Highway traffic is less than a quarter of what's recorded during the same period in 2019.

As of Friday, transport authorities in several provinces have organized chartered buses for point-to-point transportation and bring 26,000 rural workers back to big cities. The method will believably help contain the possible transmission of epidemic making it easier for contact tracing.

China has 137,900 kilometers of toll highway as of 2018, according to an industry survey. In 2018, such tolls amounted to 516.84 billion yuan ($73.97 billion).

Global Times