China plans US$440b investment in quake-hit province

Channel News Asia
China plans US$440b investment in quake-hit province
Posted: 21 November 2008 1514 hrs

BEIJING: China is to spend nearly 440 billion dollars by 2010 on rebuilding the quake-hit southwestern province of Sichuan and helping it cope with the global economic crisis, according to an official.

Total investment in the province, funded by the government, banks and the private sector, will exceed three trillion yuan (438.9 billion dollars) by 2010, said Wei Hong, vice-governor of Sichuan.

The cash injection is part of Beijing's plan to expand domestic demand and boost economic growth, Wei told reporters at a briefing in the capital.

Around 1.7 trillion yuan will be used to rebuild the 139 counties hit by the magnitude-8.0 earthquake in May, with investment in other development projects to reach about 500 billion yuan each year, he said.

The investment will be 790 billion yuan for this year and 1.2 trillion yuan next year, he added.

The overall spending will be larger than the total investment over the past 12 years in Sichuan, according to earlier Chinese media reports.

The new three-trillion-yuan plan is markedly more ambitious than earlier plans to spend one trillion yuan in the quake zone over the next three years.

The May 12 earthquake was the worst in a generation in China, flattening entire towns and leaving more than 87,000 people dead or missing.

- AFP/yt