Economy in Western China Grew 8.5 Percent in First HalfA Chinese official said Wednesday that the Chinese government has made a "good start" in implementing the strategy of developing western parts of the country.Li Zibin, vice minister of the State Development Planning Commission, told a press conference that the government invested a total of more than 70 billion yuan in big construction projects in western areas last year. He said that more than 40 percent of the major construction projects that were on-going in 2000 have already been completed or put into operation. In addition, more than 20 billion yuan has been spent on ten newly started projects that involve over 100 billion yuan worth of investment. Li, also deputy director of the office of the Leading Group under the State Council for Development of Western Regions, said that China will start to build 12 big projects in its western regions this year, with a total investment of 300 billion yuan. "The funding for the western regions will surpass that of the previous year," he said. He said that the group of key projects include the Qinghai- Tibet railway, West-East power transmission line, West-East Gas pipeline, and water conservancy hubs along the upper streams of both the Yangtze River and the Yellow River. Afforestation and turning farmland back into forest and grassland have also seen rapid progress in the ecologically sensitive western parts of China. Massive government investment has helped boost the growth rate of the local economy in western China. The investment in fixed assets in China's 12 western regions reached 171.1 billion yuan in the first half of this year, up 28.8 percent compared with that of the previous corresponding period. The growth rate was also more than 10 percent higher than that of other regions. "The GDP of the western regions has increased by 8.5 percent, which is higher than the national average," Li said. |
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