East China's Shandong province plans to drastically increase investment in transportation infrastructure in 2020, according to an announcement at a working conference organized by the Shandong Provincial Transport Department on Jan 7.

Last year, Shandong invested 175 billion yuan ($25.2 billion) into the development of transportation infrastructure, while this year, it plans to invest 184.2 billion yuan in order to spur more transportation infrastructure projects to stimulate economic growth and make traversing the province more convenient.

According to Jiang Cheng, director of the Shandong Provincial Transport Department, in 2019 Shandong invested a total of 37.5 billion yuan into railway construction, with the total length of operational railways in the province reaching 6,589 kilometers, including 1,987 kilometers of high-speed railways.

The first train to operate on the Southern Shandong High-speed Railway (the Rizhao-Qufu section) makes its maiden passenger trip on Nov 26, 2019. [Photo/dzwww.com]

Last year, a total of 112.1 billion yuan was invested into the construction of roads, with the total length of roads in the province reaching 280,000 kilometers, achieving a density of 178.8 kilometers per 100 square kilometers.

A total of 10.6 billion yuan was invested into the construction of port facilities, adding 19 new berths heavier than 10,000 tons and bringing total port transit capacity in the province to 910 million tons.

A container ship docks at a port in Qingdao, East China's Shandong province. [Photo by Yu Fangping/for China Daily]

Eleven billion yuan was invested into airport construction. There are currently nine general-purpose airports in the province.

In addition, the total length of urban railways reached 223.7 kilometers.

Jiang said that in 2020, Shandong will spare no effort in promoting the construction of high-speed railways. Five new high-speed rail projects will begin construction this year, while the provincial government will speed up preliminary work on four other high-speed rail projects.

The province will continue to expand its expressway network, adding 23 new roads with a length of 1,026 kilometers and extending about 14 roads.

Major port and airport construction projects will also be carried out this year.