Hunan province in Central China spent 83.204 billion yuan ($13.34 billion) in order to improve its residents' livelihood in 2014, Changsha Evening News reported citing local authorities on Jan 26.

The public welfare investments involved 26 projects for the people, 22 of which outperformed the initially set targets.

The achievements include 8,283 km of newly-built rural highways, the settlement of drinking safety issues for 3.69 million rural residents, the construction of 121 model villages for the New Countryside national program, and the opening of additional 159,282 public rental housing units.

The province improved the overall water quality of the water supply plants in 30 of its cities and counties. It has also renovated or expanded 20 mental health institutions across the province.