China's fixed assets investment in water conservancy hit 362.5 billion yuan (about 45.31 billion U.S. dollars) during the 10th Five-Year Plan period (2001-2005), equaling the total amount spent between 1949-2000, the deputy minister of water resources Jiao Yong said on Tuesday.

Both the number of newly-developed projects and the volume of money invested in water conservancy during 2001-2005 period had been the largest since the new China was founded in 1949, Jiao Yong said at a national conference on water resources management.

China has constructed a batch of water conservancy infrastructures between 2001 and 2005, with the central government investing 169.5 billion yuan in this sector, Jiao said.

Flood prevention capacity of great rivers in China has been upgraded with the construction of these facilities, he said.

However, Jiao said the country's water conservancy facilities are far from enough to combat potential floods. This is particularly true for the many minor rivers.

China will continue to put more money in water conservancy facility construction in the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010), the deputy minister said.

Source: Xinhua