China to invest heavily in major water conservation projects

BEIJING - China will start 15 new major water conservation projects in 2017 amid efforts to boost investment and stabilize growth, the country's top economic planner said Monday.

Total investment in major water projects under construction should exceed 900 billion yuan ($131.3 billion) by the end of this year, compared with the current level of 800 billion yuan, said Wu Xiao, an official with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), at a conference.

In 2016, 21 major water projects were started.

With its economy slowing, China views infrastructure investment as significant in boosting growth.

China's fixed-asset investment continued to cool in 2016, growing 8.1 percent year-on-year, down from 10 percent in 2015 and 15.7 percent in 2014.

However, investment in infrastructure construction accelerated by 0.2 percentage points, growing 17.4 percent year-on-year in 2016, official data showed.