A total of one trillion yuan (US$125 billion) has been spent
building infrastructure in western China in the past six years, a
senior economic official has said.
Wang Jinxiang, deputy director of the National Development and
Reform Commission (NDRC), told a special conference on western
development held Tuesday by the National Committee of the Chinese
People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) that a national
strategy to develop the country's western region had led to great
progress.
Wang, who is also deputy head of the Leading Group Office under
the State Council for the Development of the Western Regions, said
China's western regions have reported an annual average economic
growth rate of 10.6 percent for six years in a row.
The combined GDP of western regions reached 3.33 trillion yuan
last year, compared with 1.66 trillion yuan in 2000, when the
central government launched the strategy to help its relatively
backward west catch up with the more prosperous east, said
Wang.
According to Wang, in the period 2001-2005, net income grew on
average 10 percent for urban residents in the west and 6.8 percent
for rural residents.
The progress was spurred by increased financial support from
central government, said Wang. By the end of 2005, China had
launched more than 70 key infrastructure projects in the west,
covering fields such as transport, hydropower plants, energy and
telecommunications.
NDRC statistics show China has completed 226,000 kilometers of
highway and over 4,000 kilometers of railway in the west regions in
the past five years.
In addition, the central government has invested more than 122
billion yuan on western environmental protection in the past six
years, said Wang.
(Xinhua News Agency September 6, 2006)