Southwest China's Sichuan Province plans to invest 72 billion yuan (8.67 billion US dollars) on electricity generation from 2004 to 2005.

The plan was made to meet increasing demand for electricity in Sichuan, one of China's most populous regions.

According to the plan, the province will build four large-sized hydropower stations on three major rivers, Dadu, Yalong and Jinsha rivers. The generating capacity of the four hydropower stations combined will hit 25.5 million kilowatts with each's generating capacity ranging from 3.3 million kilowatts to 12.6 million kilowatts.

Ten large-scale thermal power stations will be erected in Yibin, Luzhou, Guang'an and Dazhou, the province's four major coal production areas. The top generation capacity of the ten thermal power stations will be 1.2 million kilowatts, while the minimum will be 600,000 kilowatts.

By the end of 2005, Sichuan's planned electricity generation capacity is to reach 32.6 million kilowatts.

Sichuan is located in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and bordered on all sides by lofty highlands. It covers an area of 569,000 square kilometers (219,700 square miles) and is home to over 80 million people.

Source: Xinhua