After the "Village-to-Village" roads are built, attention must also be paid to maintenance and management

On a weekend trip to visit relatives in the countryside, thanks to the "Village-to-Village" project, the journey was smooth even though we were driving on rural roads. Unexpectedly, when we reached a stretch of road adjacent to farmland and an irrigation canal, manure and straw piled up on both sides had encroached on the roadway. This situation had apparently persisted for a long time, and it had even caused part of the road surface to be damaged, leaving it pitted and uneven. This phenomenon is not uncommon in rural areas.

With the rapid development of the rural economy and society, the number of various vehicles traveling on rural roads has increased markedly. Some rural roads built during the upsurge of "Village-to-Village" construction were designed to relatively low standards, and they clearly no longer meet the needs of future development. Some villages also do not attach importance to road management and maintenance, and villagers arbitrarily occupy road space by piling up straw, manure and the like, causing damage to the road surface. In addition, for various reasons, some places lack clear provisions on the responsible entities for rural road management and maintenance, as well as on how to manage and maintain roads and how to assess performance. Furthermore, rural road maintenance funds are insufficient, maintenance management is weak, and an effective rural road maintenance and management mechanism urgently needs to be established and improved.

The "Village-to-Village" project is a tangible benefit for the people, and farmers strongly support it. But good deeds must be done well, and tangible benefits need long-term effectiveness. The rural roads built under the "Village-to-Village" project are public-welfare infrastructure. Building them is not easy, and even more attention must be paid to long-term management and maintenance. To this end, it is necessary not only to implement responsibilities, funding and personnel, but also to broadly mobilize the masses and rely on them, forming a powerful joint force in which the government, society and the people all invest and work together to manage the roads. Only in this way can rural roads be built well, managed well and maintained well.