Economy gets a boost from water project investments, vice-minister says

With consistent increases in scale, investment in water resources management in the country has played an important role in promoting economic recovery, a senior official said on Wednesday.

From January to September, China saw 24,900 new projects for water resources management launched across the country, up by 12.9 percent year-on-year, Chen Min, vice-minister of water resources, told a news conference.

The total planned investment for these projects reached 1.15 trillion yuan ($157.3 billion), 8.9 percent more than those that were launched during the same period last year, he said.

"The investment into water resources management has played a significant role in stabilizing employment and increasing people's incomes," he said.

He said over 2.2 million people were hired for these projects, almost 1.8 million of which are rural residents.

The wages paid to these workers increased by roughly 37 percent year-on-year to more than 41.1 billion yuan, he noted.