 |
News From Xinjiang: Stability, Gas Pipeline Launch, Happy Farmers
Deputies to the National People's Congress from Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region said Saturday they have brought three good pieces of news with them from the northwestern region: stability, launch of a pipeline project to transmit natural gas to Shanghai, and contented farmers who have the right to cultivate what they like.
Abdurihman Ali, vice-director of the office of the Xinjiang Regional People's Congress, said economic development has been accelerating in various parts of Xinjiang since the implementation of the central government's strategy of developing west China in a big way.
Ali said he and some other deputies had conducted a tour of investigation of Urumqi, and Aksu and Bayan Gol prefectures before leaving for Beijing to attend the fourth session of the NPC due to open Monday.
In Bayan Gol, preparations are well underway to lay a pipeline to move natural gas in the prefecture to Shanghai, he said.
Natural gas reserves sufficient for supplying 12 billion cu.m. annually to Shanghai for a total of 15 years have been proved in the Kela No. 2 gas well, said Ali.
People of all ethnic groups expect the pipeline project to be included in the central government's 10th Five-Year (2001-2005) Plan for Economic and Social Development, he added.
The situation in Xinjiang has stabilized with victories having been won against a handful of separatists in the past few years, he said.
Separatist activities by some extreme religious forces and ethnic splittists had to some extent affected social and economic development in the region in the past few years, which have now been brought under control, he added.
Local people have seen through the true color of the separatist forces, and grass-root government organizations have been consolidated, said Ali.
Farmers in the region are now free to make their own decisions on farming and their financial burdens have been alleviated, as the market has been given greater role in economic activities, he said.
Ali said operation of the newly-completed south Xinjiang railway has begun to stimulate local economy, which was described by local people as a line for poverty reduction and a road leading to a better life.
He said his delegation has prepared for the upcoming fourth session of the Ninth National People's Congress some proposals on training of professionals, improved protection for the ecological environment and further reduction of financial burdens on farmers.
In This Section
|