History of China and Western Development

Author: Compiler: Du Ping
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-05-25
Features:
First, from hundreds of large and medium-sized construction projects being built in the western region, 78 major projects were selected in a planned and focused manner, increasing central support funding and strengthening supervision and management of project timelines, which significantly accelerated construction schedules, improved project efficiency, and ensured the rapid addition of new production capacity. By the end of 2000, these projects had completed approximately 33 billion yuan in investment, with 42 projects either fully or partially put into operation. The main new production capacity added includes: approximately 25,000 kilometers of highway put into operation (including over 1,000 kilometers of expressway), 7.9 billion cubic meters of water storage capacity in water conservancy projects, 250,000 hectares of irrigated land, nearly 11.2 million hectares of land returned to forest and grassland, nearly 7.8 million hectares of afforestation and grassland on suitable forestland, 6 million hectares of public forest construction and forest management in natural forest reserves, and 260,000 hectares of "three-degrees" grassland treatment.
Second, based on comprehensive planning, the "Top Ten West Projects" were announced in 2000, and all projects have now been initiated with relatively smooth progress. They include: the Xi'an-Nanjing Railway (Xi'an-Hefei section) and the Chongqing-Huaihua Railway (Yuhui Line), both with total investments of 23.2 billion yuan and 18.2 billion yuan, respectively; the western highway network support construction with a total investment scale of 700 billion yuan within a decade (including national trunk highways and roads in impoverished counties); the construction of western central airports and their branch air networks, including airports such as Xi'an Xianyang, Chengdu Shuangliu, Kunming Wujaba, Lanzhou Zhongchuan, and Urumqi; the Chongqing Light Rail Transit (Jiaochangkou-Xinshan Village Phase I), with an investment of about 3.3 billion yuan; the Sibei Basin Sibei-Xining-Lanzhou natural gas pipeline, with an investment of 2.5 billion yuan; the Sichuan Ziping and Ningxia Huangshatou water conservancy projects, with total investments of about 620 million yuan and 130 million yuan, respectively; the Westward Afforestation (Grassland) and Ecological Construction and Seedling Project, with an investment of over 10 billion yuan in 2000; the Qinghai Potash Project, with an investment of 3.2 billion yuan; and the Westward University Infrastructure Construction Project, with investments of hundreds of millions of yuan.
Third, considering the strategic significance of politics, economy, and military, some major projects that fundamentally improve the development foundation of the western region, enhance self-development capabilities, and ensure border security and ethnic unity were carefully selected and bundled together as major landmark projects for the future development of the western region over the next 5 to 10 years. Efforts were intensified to conduct preliminary research and feasibility studies on these projects, actively secure construction conditions and financing, and gradually promote phased and staged construction. Currently, preliminary work for projects such as "West-to-East Natural Gas Transport," "West-to-East Electricity Transmission," the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, domestic and international transportation trunk routes (highways and railways), characteristic agricultural product bases, utilization of advantageous resources, green ecological barriers, cultural tourism resource development, compulsory nine-year education, and western water resource development and conservation are relatively mature and gradually entering the construction phase.
Fourth, the central government continued to expand the transfer payments to the western region, significantly increasing public spending on support for science, technology, education, cultural development, and social security in the western region. In particular, there was a marked increase in subsidies for civil servant salaries in impoverished and ethnic minority areas of the west, as well as assistance for laid-off workers and reemployment.