Recently, the Guideline of the Ministry of Transport on Pilot Projects of Developing China’s Transportation Strength in Shandong Province——“Reform in System and Mechanism of Comprehensive Transportation” was issued. It stated that the pilot have certain innovative, leading, and demonstrative promotional value, and agreed that the “Reform in System and Mechanism of Comprehensive Transportation” pilot project has passed the acceptance check.
Since the launch of the pilot project, Shandong Province has coordinated the integration of railways, highways, waterways, airports and urban rail transit. It has promoted infrastructure connectivity, greatly improved transport service capabilities, transformed and upgraded traditional industries, and modernized the governance system. The province has made advanced achievements and experiences that are replicable and applicable in optimizing and improving institutional functions, promoting comprehensive transportation law enforcement reform, establishing a comprehensive transport planning mechanism, and creating an operating platform for investment and financing.
Establishment of the Integrated and Coordinated Comprehensive Transportation Mechanism
In 2021, a total of 2,655 billion yuan was invested in fixed assets for transportation, up 12.7 percent year-on-year, while in 2022, the investment reached 3,084 billion yuan, surged 16.1 percent. Since the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan, the transportation investment of Shandong Province has repeatedly reached new highs and a large number of major transportation projects are accelerating. This is due to Shandong’s continuous optimization of the institutional and functional setup, building a “mass transportation” management system.
The Shandong provincial government has taken the following measures: Set up the leading group, which is headed by the deputy governor in charge, and three other special working groups on the promotion of key transportation construction projects, railway construction and civil aviation development. These groups pursue coordinated progress in comprehensive transportation and the transportation infrastructure construction of key areas. We have established an integrated and coordinated comprehensive transportation mechanism to strengthen trans-departmental collaboration. We formed an efficient coordination mechanism for major transportation infrastructure construction among departments such as transportation, development and reform, natural resources, and ecological environment. We have established a new mechanism for inter-provincial comprehensive transportation collaboration along the Yellow River. We have built land-sea corridor along Yellow River Basin, build land-sea corridor along yellow river basin, implement the construction of high-speed railway along the Yellow River to the sea, launch an upgraded program of the trunk highway along the Yellow River and an upgraded program of the Shandong-Henan expressway network along the Yellow River.
Since the implementation of the pilot project for developing China’s transportation strength, Shandong has optimized and improved the functions and institutional settings of comprehensive transportation management at the provincial level. We have given high priority to sorting out the responsibility boundaries in comprehensive transportation management between the Department of Transport of Shandong Province and other departments, strengthening the comprehensive coordination of the Department of Transport of Shandong province thereby the administrative functions of comprehensive transportation can be concentrated and better coordinated.
The 16 cities in the province actively create “one city, one transportation” management system. In accordance with the local institutional reform plans, the responsibilities of the transportation authorities in managing mass transportation have been clarified. The transportation service resources at the three administrative levels of province, city and county are integrated, and Transportation Service (Development) Centers are established to build an integrated service guarantee system.
In the field of transportation law enforcement, Shandong Province has integrated seven sectors of law enforcement functions and formed comprehensive transportation law enforcement teams at the three administrative levels of province, city and county. A standardized long-term mechanism for administrative law enforcement in transportation has been established. The province has built three cross-regional law enforcement collaboration zones in the provincial capital metropolitan area, Jiaodong city cluster, and Lunan city cluster, are established to promote the integration of law enforcement resources and information sharing. The joint collaboration mechanism against overloading has been established among four provinces (Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan, Anhui) and thirteen cities. The five cooperation mechanisms, including seamless non-stop vehicle inspection facilities, highway entrance control, tracing and investigation of “100-ton king”, “four penalties for one overloading,” and law enforcement information sharing. This approach aims to achieve instant situation analysis, real-time information exchange, immediate response to actions, and joint credit constraints.
Integrating resources to create a big platform for financing, construction, and operations
In recent years, Shandong has restructured its management system and comprehensively integrated resources such as highways, railways, ports, airports and water transportation, reorganized or established five provincial transportation enterprises, including Shandong Hi-speed Group, Shandong Railway Investment Holding Group Co., Ltd, Shandong Provincial Airport Management Group Co., Ltd, Shandong Port Group Co., LTD, and Shandong Marine Group LTD. The province has created a big platform for transportation investment, financing, construction, and operations.
In terms of management functions, Shandong Transportation Department has established an assessment mechanism for transportation construction tasks and investment targets of provincial transportation enterprises. In terms of transportation infrastructure investment, Shandong Province explores diversified investment and financing models, such as “fiscal policy + fund,” “fiscal policy + PPP (public-private partnership),” and “fiscal policy + equity investment”. National policy investment and market-oriented investment and financing are the foundation and supplement of diversified transportation investment and financing system mechanism. This helps solve the financing difficulties in transportation infrastructure construction and forms a new pattern of government-enterprise interaction and joint promotion of transportation infrastructure construction.
To stimulate the vitality of market entities, Shandong Province has deepened reforms in key areas of transportation, expanded the scope of streamlining administration and delegating powers. Some provincial transportation administrative powers have been entrusted to cities divided into districts, the West Coast New Area of Qingdao, national development zones, and provincial new areas for implementation. The province has explored ways to set up a key regulatory list system, worked to establish a sound supervision mechanism based on different levels and categories of risks. The province conducted credit risk early warnings and graded regulatory measures and promoted "Internet Plus Regulation”.
Our transportation sector has also established a dynamic adjustment mechanism for the list of rights and responsibilities and memoranda, as well as mechanisms for consultations and liaison between departments of transportation and administrative approval departments. Two regulations have been released to fully stimulate the innovative vitality of road transport market entities. These include the Implementation Opinions on Accelerating the Transformation and Upgrading of the Road Freight Industry to Promote High-Quality Development, and a Three-Year Action Plan for the Road Passenger Transport Transformation and Development of Shandong Province (2021-2023), aiming to accelerate the transformation and upgrading of the road transportation industry.
Source from: China Transportation News