By Hao Zhou (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-08-01 15:16

China plans to launch 10 new big projects in West China this year, with a total investment of 151.6 billion yuan (US$20 billion), said the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

The 10 newly opened projects are:

to construct two railway sections, one from Dali to Ruili, both in Yunnan Province, and the other from Kuntun to Beitun, both in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region;

to expand the railways between Baotou in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Xi'an in Shaanxi Province, as well as between Xining and Germu, both in Qinghai Province;

to pave roads from Tianshui to Dingxi, both in Gansu Province, and from Duyun to Xinzhai, both in Guizhou Province;

to relocate the Kunming Airport in Yunnan Province;

to build several regional airports in the western region;

to set up two hydropower stations in Dagangshan of Sichuan Province and Jishixia of Qinghai Province respectively;

to support Chongqing Pengwei Petrochemical Co Ltd's project, with an annual production capacity of 600,000 tons of pure terephthalic acid;

to support an oil refining project in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Sichuan Province with a capacity in the tens of millions of tons;

to construct two coal mines with a capacity of tens of millions of coal in Huangyuchan and Suancigou, both in Inner Mongolia;

to support education and healthcare in western China.

By the end of last year, there had been 82 ongoing major construction projects involving investments of 1.15 trillion yuan.