(Yicai Global) April 29 -- China's transport ministry has submitted a plan to eliminate highway toll gates within two years.

Getting rid of the booths is the top priority, state-backed Xinhua news agency reported, citing Wu Chungeng, a ministry spokesman who spoke at a press conference yesterday. The ministry formulated the plan after consulting with agencies, local governments, highways firms and industry associations, he added.

Earlier this year the cabinet proposed to bring an end to highway toll gates within two years with manual fee collection replaced by an electronic system to further improve traffic efficiency and reduce logistics costs.

Electronic toll collection, or ETC, is key to eliminating toll booths, Wu said. The most urgent task is to promote ETC and build the necessary gantry system at toll lanes.

China shut 15 provincial toll stations between two pairs of pilot provinces -- Jiangsu and Shandong, and Sichuan and Chongqing -- at the end of last year and is expected to close more in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta region, and key regions in the northeast and southwest, Minister of Transport Li Xiaopeng has said.