Hotline delivers: Road repairs make travel safer for residents

Editor's Note: CGTN presents "My City, My Say," a special series featuring real stories from cities across China, where everyday concerns meet practical solutions. Through video and storytelling, the series explores how 12345 service hotlines help people make their voices heard and how local communities turn public requests into concrete action, offering a glimpse into China's vision of the "people's city."

Wherever people live, everyday problems raise the same basic question: how do you get them fixed? A pothole needs repairing, a broken streetlight needs replacing, and a damaged manhole cover can become a safety hazard.

In Luxian County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, residents can turn to a government service hotline for such problems – and in some cases, see them addressed within weeks.

For residents of Jieguanba Village in Desheng Township, one such problem was a badly damaged rural road.

"It's much easier to walk now, and cycling is great too," said Xia Tingfen, a resident, recalling how difficult it once was to travel along the bumpy road.

Until earlier this year, the road was riddled with potholes and particularly difficult to navigate after rain. The problem was reported through the 12345 government service hotline, a nationwide platform for residents to raise complaints and requests and report problems to local authorities.

After receiving the case, officials in Desheng Township sent staff to inspect the road. They found that the damage extended far beyond the 1.8 kilometers initially reported: the entire 13-kilometer stretch was in need of repair.

Rather than repair only the section mentioned in the complaint, the township decided to renovate the entire road. Work began in January, with construction crews working in shifts to speed up the project. By the end of February, the 13-kilometer road had been fully paved, nearly a month ahead of schedule.

The township also installed 250 solar-powered streetlights along the route, making daily journeys safer and more convenient for villagers traveling to school, markets and medical facilities.

The hotline has also been used to tackle safety hazards in more built-up areas of Luxian County.

In Yuchan Subdistrict, more than 60 manhole covers near several residential communities were damaged or missing. The area is on a key route to Longhu Wetland Park for residents of several nearby communities. After the original property developer went into liquidation, the public areas around the commercial properties lacked regular management for an extended period.

"Many of the manhole covers around our community were broken. We were especially worried that elderly people or children might fall into them at night," said resident Li Huaying.

After receiving the complaint, the subdistrict government inspected the site and discussed possible solutions. With limited funding available, officials decided to replace the damaged covers with reinforced concrete ones.

Now that everything has been fixed, everyone is grateful, Li said.

He Kangwei, an official with the subdistrict's urban development office, said for officials like him, the most important thing is that residents' safety concerns have been addressed.

These cases show how Luxian County is seeking to make its 12345 hotline more than a channel for handling individual complaints. Authorities are also using residents' concerns to identify broader problems and improve local governance.

"After receiving residents' requests, we don't just handle them case by case. We also look for similar problems and take preventive measures before people have to raise complaints," said Chen Qin, director of the Administrative Approval Bureau in Luxian County.

In recent years, Luxian County has integrated the hotline with grassroots governance and public services. Measures include allowing residents to handle certain matters across township boundaries and establishing rapid-response mechanisms for urgent problems, with a target of responding to emergencies within five minutes.

The county has also introduced dedicated services for elderly people and other groups requiring additional assistance. Staff have made proactive visits to residents and helped complete 1,867 pension eligibility verification procedures. For businesses, dedicated service teams have visited companies 66 times, helping address more than 10 particularly difficult issues and facilitating 2.5 billion yuan (roughly $373 million) in financing.

The approach is intended to make residents' needs an early signal for government action, rather than waiting for problems to escalate.

"Going forward, we will continue to improve the hotline handling mechanism, make people's concerns a top priority and turn their needs into tangible improvements in their lives," Chen said.

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