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Yunnan to Invest Heavily in Water Conservancy Projects
Southwest China's Yunnan Province plans to invest seven billion yuan (US$843 million) to construct a series of water conservancy projects in the coming five years.
Kong Chuizhu, director of the provincial water resources bureau, said that the projects will include two large reservoirs and 48 medium-sized reservoirs, mainly in remote areas and places inhabited by ethnic groups.
China is a country which suffers from a serious water shortage, with per-capita water resources only one fourth of the world's average.
About 30 percent of Yunnan's farmland is threatened by a shortage of water, and nearly five million people and 3.5 domestic animals do not have easy access to drinking water. Drought brings three billion yuan-worth of economic losses to the province annually.
Local officials said that upon completion, the projects will add or improve a total of 21,000 hectares of irrigated farmland, raise the annual grain output by 600,000 tons and supply 300 million cubic meters of water for local people.
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