How China builds roads with excellence

What the report says

The Independent Uganda published a commentary on July 23, 2026, by Nnanda Kizito Sseruwagi examining how China has expanded its road infrastructure at large scale. The article says China built more than 190,700 kilometres of tarmac roads in the four decades to 2024, bringing its paved network to about 4.9 million kilometres, and argues that this outcome reflects an integrated system rather than a single policy choice.

According to the commentary, China’s land tenure arrangements are a major factor. It says urban land is state-owned, while rural land is collectively owned, allowing local governments to convert land for public projects and compensate based on statutory valuation formulas tied to agricultural output. The author contrasts this with countries where freehold ownership and court disputes can delay road projects and raise costs.

The article also highlights financing mechanisms, including local governments leasing converted land to developers, capturing higher land values created by new roads, central budget allocations, transport funds, provincial and municipal bonds, and lending by institutions such as the China Development Bank. It notes that some expressways use tolls to support maintenance and future construction, comparing this approach to Uganda’s Entebbe Expressway.

Sseruwagi further points to China’s state-linked construction firms, competitive procurement, digital oversight systems, supervising engineers, and construction technology as part of the model. The commentary cites equipment makers such as Sany and XCMG, the BeiDou navigation system, and unmanned paving on a section of the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao Expressway in Guangdong in 2024. The author presents China as a benchmark for countries seeking to turn political will into sustained infrastructure delivery.