2011-01-24 13:50

China plans to invest about 2 trillion yuan ($303.8 billion) to build water resource facilities during the next five years, People's Daily reported Monday, citing an official from the country's top water resource planner.

The nation will focus on water resource projects in vulnerable spots and those that help improve people's livelihoods, said Zhou Xuewen, head of the department of planning and programming at the Ministry of Water Resources.

Of the 2-trillion-yuan investment, the central government plans to invest roughly 1 trillion yuan, Zhou added.

The nation paid about 700 billion yuan on building water resource facilities during the 11th-Five-Year Plan (2006-2010). The amount was about double what was spent during the 10th-Five-Year Plan (2001-2005), the newspaper reported.

The projects helped solve drinking-water safety problems for 210 million rural residents across the country, the newspaper said.

Meanwhile, during the past five years, the nation's effective irrigation areas witnessed a net increase of about 50 million mu (3.3 million hectares), the report said.