Investment in water conservancy quintuples over decade

China has invested almost 6.7 trillion yuan ($968 billion) in water conservancy over the past decade, five times the amount in the previous decade, according to the Ministry of Water Resources.

Zhang Xiangwei, head of planning at the ministry, made the remarks at a news conference organized by the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Tuesday.

In addition to a series of major projects for flood control, the country has made great endeavors to harness small and medium-sized rivers and reinforce reservoirs with hazards, he noted.

In total, the country increased its reservoir capacity by about 105 billion cubic meters in the past decade, he said. It also completed 54 new water diversion projects with a total capacity of almost 64.8 billion cubic meters.

Zhang also highlighted the significant progress the ministry has made in accelerating the construction of water conservancy projects to spur economic growth this year.

"So far this year, construction has begun in about 19,000 water conservancy projects, marking a historical high," he said.

From January to August, the total investment that has been made in water conservancy development reached 703.6 billion yuan, up 63.9 percent from last year, he said.

He said over 1.9 million people had been employed in water conservancy related projects, including more than 1.5 million labors from rural areas.