China is expected to launch 12 major projects in Western China in 2006 at a total cost of 165.4 billion yuan.

The country has started up 70 major projects in remaking the west from 2000 to 2005, with a total investment of nearly one trillion yuan. These projects have played a crucial role in the improvement of basic facilities, accelerating the growth of the advantageous industries of the west and enhancing the harmony development of the region.

These 12 projects are:

*the Railway Project from Taiyuan to Zhongwei,

*the highway development in western China,

*Branch airline airfields construction in western China,

*Major coal mining projects in western China,

*Hydroelectric power plants construction in western China,

*Qingshanzui Reservoir Project in Yunnan province, southwest China,

*Paddies created from returned forestland for ensuring food supplies for local farmers,

*A 800,000-ton ethylene project in Sichuan province, southwest China,

*A 1.2 million tons potash fertilizer project in Lop Nol, Xinjiang,

*A 400,000 tons alumina project in Inner Mongolia, north China,

*High-tech industrial projects in western China,

*Education, public health and other related project in western China.

By People's Daily Online