China's highway sector posted earnings of 385 billion yuan (about US$46.5 billion) in 1999, accounting for 4.3 percent of last year's gross domestic product (GDP).
The highway sector has become the largest in the transportation field in terms of transportation volume and revenues, according to the Ministry of Communications.
Last year, the sector carried 12.6 billion passengers and 9.9 billion tons of goods. The number of buses carrying passengers in 1999 amounted to 1.2 million, and freight vehicles numbered 4.2 million.