Development of West China to Speed Up (2001-03-08)
2004-03-09 13:04
China will speed up its implementation
of the "West
Development" strategy, Zeng Peiyan, minister of the
State Development and Planning Commission (SDPC), told a
press conference in Beijing Wednesday.
All 12 major projects to be launched this year,
including the Qinghai-Tibet railway and the "west to
east natural gas transmission" project, Zeng said, will
require a total investment in excess of 300 billion yuan
(US$36.14 billion).
An office in charge of the "West Development" program
had been set up last year. It has formulated a package
of preferential policies and published a master plan for
implementing the strategy, Zeng said.
Zeng also said that about 40 percent of year 2000's "ten
major projects" task, which the government gave an
investment of 70 billion yuan, had been completed and
put into production successfully.
Progress has also been made in restoring farmland once
reclaimed from forests and pastures.
The minister stressed the "West Development" a major
economic strategy taken by the Chinese government in the
21st century. Therefore, in the coming five to ten
years, the government is determined to make a
breakthrough in infrastructure and ecological
construction.
When asked about China's active fiscal policy, the top
planner firmly said that precaution against and
curtailing deflation while preventing inflation will be
the main tasks of this year's macro-economic control.
He said that the economic downturn began in 1993 was
arrested last year and prices also returned to normal
from successive negative growths.
However, the foundation for growth was still not secure.
Most commodities are in excessive supply; income growth
of more than 70 percent of the rural population is slow;
the purchasing power is limited; and investment by the
private sector is inactive. Many uncertainties that have
cropped up in the international economy, including the
recent slowdown of the US economy, will affect China's
foreign trade.
Under such circumstances, he said, curtailing deflation
while preventing inflation is quite necessary.
The minister also provided some indicators:
The country will strive to bring the per capita annual
income up to an estimated 8,000 yuan from 6,280 yuan in
urban areas and to 3,000 yuan from 2,550 yuan in rural
areas.
The living environment for both urban and rural
residents will be improved too, with the forest coverage
in the country as a whole to reach 18.2 percent and the
urban green coverage to reach 35 percent.
The urban housing proportion should reach 22 square
metre per person while the rural residents will share an
even larger one.
In response to a question by a Taiwan reporter, Zeng
said that after the Chinese mainland becomes a WTO
member, Taiwan will also join and that will help further
promote economic co-operation and trade across the
Straits.
He also noted that the accession of the mainland to the
WTO will provide investors from Taiwan, Hong Kong and
Macao with more opportunities to get access to new areas
of investment.
Development" strategy, Zeng Peiyan, minister of the
State Development and Planning Commission (SDPC), told a
press conference in Beijing Wednesday.
All 12 major projects to be launched this year,
including the Qinghai-Tibet railway and the "west to
east natural gas transmission" project, Zeng said, will
require a total investment in excess of 300 billion yuan
(US$36.14 billion).
An office in charge of the "West Development" program
had been set up last year. It has formulated a package
of preferential policies and published a master plan for
implementing the strategy, Zeng said.
Zeng also said that about 40 percent of year 2000's "ten
major projects" task, which the government gave an
investment of 70 billion yuan, had been completed and
put into production successfully.
Progress has also been made in restoring farmland once
reclaimed from forests and pastures.
The minister stressed the "West Development" a major
economic strategy taken by the Chinese government in the
21st century. Therefore, in the coming five to ten
years, the government is determined to make a
breakthrough in infrastructure and ecological
construction.
When asked about China's active fiscal policy, the top
planner firmly said that precaution against and
curtailing deflation while preventing inflation will be
the main tasks of this year's macro-economic control.
He said that the economic downturn began in 1993 was
arrested last year and prices also returned to normal
from successive negative growths.
However, the foundation for growth was still not secure.
Most commodities are in excessive supply; income growth
of more than 70 percent of the rural population is slow;
the purchasing power is limited; and investment by the
private sector is inactive. Many uncertainties that have
cropped up in the international economy, including the
recent slowdown of the US economy, will affect China's
foreign trade.
Under such circumstances, he said, curtailing deflation
while preventing inflation is quite necessary.
The minister also provided some indicators:
The country will strive to bring the per capita annual
income up to an estimated 8,000 yuan from 6,280 yuan in
urban areas and to 3,000 yuan from 2,550 yuan in rural
areas.
The living environment for both urban and rural
residents will be improved too, with the forest coverage
in the country as a whole to reach 18.2 percent and the
urban green coverage to reach 35 percent.
The urban housing proportion should reach 22 square
metre per person while the rural residents will share an
even larger one.
In response to a question by a Taiwan reporter, Zeng
said that after the Chinese mainland becomes a WTO
member, Taiwan will also join and that will help further
promote economic co-operation and trade across the
Straits.
He also noted that the accession of the mainland to the
WTO will provide investors from Taiwan, Hong Kong and
Macao with more opportunities to get access to new areas
of investment.