The government of southwest China's Guizhou Province has pledged to get the majority of impoverished people out of poverty in five years and enable them to have a comparatively comfortable life in 10 years, a provincial official said Tuesday in Guiyang.
Guizhou, one of the poorest areas in China, has invested 9.4 billion yuan in building roads, electricity facilities and other projects in poverty-stricken areas since 1994, said Zhou Peirong, director of the provincial poverty alleviation office.
Consequently, the economic growth rate of Guizhou stayed above the national average rate for three years running since 1997. Its gross domestic product has increased from 63 billion yuan in 1995 to 100 billion yuan. The number of people below the poverty line in the province dropped from 10 million in 1993 to 3.13 million last year.
The province will stress development in mountainous areas and regions inhabited by ethnic groups in the upcoming decade.
(People’s Daily 10/10/2001)
