BIZCHINA> Weekly Roundup
New socialist countryside
(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-03-10 16:40

 

Q: What will China do to build a new countryside?

A: The programme involves at least eight parts:

1) More water conservancy facilities will be installed between 2006 and 2010 to irrigate the farmland and allow rural residents to drink safe water.

More than 400 large irrigated areas will have their current facilities upgraded to use water more efficiently. Newly-built irrigation networks will cover 10 million hectares of farmland and 100 million more rural residents will be able to drink safe water.

2) Road construction will continue with the goal of facilitating farmers' work. The government will spend 100 billion yuan (US$12 billion) on road construction between 2006 and 2010. By the end of the 11th Five-Year Plan, all small towns will have road access.

3) Efforts will be made to expand the use of clean fuels such as marsh gas and solar energy in rural areas.

At least 4.5 million rural households had benefited from the marsh gas project by the end of 2005. In the 11th Five-Year Plan, 22.5 million more rural households will start to use marsh gas. By 2010, 50 model counties will showcase the benefits of green energy, which will account for more than half of the total energy consumed.

4) The construction of the rural power network will be completed.

Since 1998, the government has put 288.5 billion yuan (US$34.7 billion) into constructing the rural power network. But 20 million rural residents still cannot use electricity now. In the 11th Five-Year Plan, 10 million of them will have electricity by 2010 and the rest by 2015.

5) The rural education conditions will be improved.

The nine-year compulsory education in rural areas will be secured by the public financial system starting from this year. The central government will invest 125.8 billion yuan (US$15.2 billion) and local governments 92.4 billion yuan (US$11.1 billion) into the programme.

6) The rural public health care system will be improved.

Starting from this year, both the central and local governments will spend more to construct the rural co-operative medical service system, which is scheduled to cover the countryside by the end of 2008.

And a three-level rural health care service network will be established by 2010 to satisfy residents' needs.

7) Rural residents will have more access to culture.

In the 11th Five-Year Plan, villages having more than 20 families with electricity will be able to watch television and listen to radio. More small towns will have libraries and physical exercise facilities.

8) The rural social security system will be improved.

It aims to provide subsistence allowances for the rural poor. Social security systems will also be set up to cover farmers without land and migrant workers.


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