| Sunday, November 11, 2001, updated at 11:30(GMT+8) |
Western Development Program Pays Off |
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The gross domestic product (GDP) of 12 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in western China increased by 8.7 percent in the first half of this year thanks to China's drive to accelerate western development.
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The gross domestic product (GDP) of 12 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in western China increased by 8.7 percent in the first half of this year thanks to China's drive to accelerate western development.
Investments in fixed assets soared 25 percent in the first three quarters of the year, much higher than the national average growth rate, Ning Zhe, an official with the State Development Planning Commission, said at a training course for ethnic cadres which opened Saturday in Haikou, capital of south China's Hainan Province.
More than 1 million hectares of low-yielding farmland have been converted into grassland and 910,000 hectares of hill or waste land have been planted with trees. Indiscriminate felling of trees at the upper reaches of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers has come to a halt.
Construction of 10 key projects began in western China last year at a combined cost of 20 billion yuan. More projects were begun to be built this year, which will cost about 300 billion yuan.
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