700b yuan spent on western development strategy
( 2003-08-30 07:59) (Xinhua)
China has spent over 700
billion yuan (US$85.4 billion) on the development strategy for its western
region, said Chinese official on Friday.
A host of major infrastructure projects, including the huge Qinghai-Tibet
Railway on the "roof of the world" and the west-east natural gas pipeline
project, have been launched, said Wang Zhibao, deputy director of the Office of
the Leading Group under the State Council for the Development of the Western
Regions.
Mainly with central government funding, 36 major projects have been launched
in the western region at a cost of over 600 billion yuan from 2000 to 2002. This
year, the central government plans to spend 130 billion yuan on 14 projects, he
said, during a summit by Chinese financial experts and private entrepreneurs
held in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
The western regions on the development list consist of 11 provinces and
autonomous regions as well as a municipality, which have a total area of 6.85
million square kilometers and a population of 364 million. The average per
capita GDP there, however, is only about 40 percent of the more developed
eastern coastal regions. China launched the western development campaign in
1999.
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