Central China's Henan Province has mapped out a blueprint to accelerate infrastructure construction in rural areas in a bid to promote local agricultural development.

In 2006, the province will invest a total of 7.5 billion yuan (about US$937.5 million) on road construction, water supply and the development of marsh gas as new energy sources in its rural areas.

According to statistics of the Henan provincial government, 6.5 billion yuan will be invested in the province's roads. It plans to link 10,000 villages across the province with a road networking stretching 19,000 kilometers .

Meanwhile, Henan will use 540 million yuan to clean up water pollution in rural areas in order to provide safe drinking water to more than 1.5 million farmers.

Four hundred million yuan will be used to build a new-energy supply system with the aim of providing 500,000 families in rural areas access to use marsh gas that can be used for cooking, heating and bathing.

During the country's 11th-Five-Year Program (2006-2010) for Economic and Social Development, the province will build a total of 90,000 kilometers of blacktop roads in rural areas and provide 9 million farmers with safe tap water.

China is making efforts to accelerate rural reform and governments at all levels are working to improve agricultural infrastructure, such as road construction, telecommunications and electricity networks in rural areas.

(Xinhua News Agency March 5, 2006)