QINGDAO is planning a five-year transport construction program between 2011 and 2015 to become a national transport hub.

    A total of 89 km of expressways and 539 km of first-class highways will be built during the five years.

    There will be 27 new 10,000-ton berths added to the city’s ports and port throughput is expected to reach 450 million tons in 2015 with container throughput reaching 18 million TEUs. An international shipping trade center will open in 2015.

    More roads will be built in urban and rural areas to facilitate the urban-rural integration.

    Construction on the Qingdao Bay Bridge and an undersea tunnel will soon be completed. The Qingdao-Longkou Expressway and Huanwan Road are now in use.

    The city also plans to build six hub interchanges including the Xifu Township Interchange and Xiyuanzhuang Interchange to connect roads in urban and rural areas.

    In all, 19 roads running 350 km are planned in Jiaonan, Jiaozhou, Jimo, Pingdu and Laixi cities.

    The existing ports in Qingdao will be developed with new functions.

    The bonded port area will pilot a free trade zone between China, Japan and South Korea.

    The old port area will be rebuilt into a port for cruise ships with the cargo business transferred to other ports.

    Dongjiakou Port will be the new center for commododity shipping, especially for iron ore and LNG. Aoshan Bay Port will be built and opened by 2020.

    The Shandong (Qingdao) International Shipping Trade Center will provide one-stop services including international trade, insurance, taxation, legal services and financing.

    The number of city buses is expected to reach 5,500 on 248 routes. The number of taxis will also be increased.(Tina Chen, Li Xiaohan)