China invests more in water conservancy projects in past decade

BEIJING -- China's investment in water conservancy projects during the past 10 years was five times as much as that in the previous decade, a water management official said Tuesday.

Completed investment in water conservancy projects reached 6.66 trillion yuan (about 966 billion U.S. dollars) in the past decade, said Zhang Xiangwei, an official with the Ministry of Water Resources.

The investment supported a batch of key flood prevention projects in major river basins and the water management work in small and medium-sized rivers, facilitated risk elimination and reinforcement of reservoirs, and funded 54 cross-basin and cross-region water diversion projects.

China has ramped up the construction of water conservancy infrastructure in 2022 amid efforts to stabilize the economy, Zhang said.

So far this year, construction of some 19,000 new water conservancy projects has kicked off nationwide, hitting a record high.

Completed investment in water conservancy projects also reached a new high in the first eight months, surging 63.9 percent year on year to 703.6 billion yuan.

Construction of water conservancy projects has created huge job opportunities, especially for rural residents, Zhang added, noting that 1.91 million jobs were created in the first eight months, including 1.53 million for rural residents.