URUMQI, April 7 -- Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has earmarked more than 160 billion yuan (24.7 billion U.S. dollars) for infrastructure construction this year, its planning body said on Thursday.

A total of 163.4 billion yuan, or almost 55 percent of the region's total planned investment in 2016, will be spent on 223 major infrastructure projects, said Ahmat Manap, an official with the regional development and reform commission.

Key projects include the expansion of the Urumqi airport and the Xinjiang stretch of the power transmission line linking the Junggar Basin to east China's Anhui Province.

Another 80 billion yuan will be poured into industrial projects, such as natural gas production and textiles, and 66.5 billion yuan into social causes including bilingual kindergartens and poverty alleviation, according to Ahmat Manap.

"Under the circumstances of the economic slowdown, these projects, totalling 440 in number, will play an important part in boosting Xinjiang's economic and social development," he said.