East China's Jiangxi Province has drawn up a blueprint to alleviate by the year 2005 the poverty of one million local people who do not yet have enough subsistence to support their daily life.
The nearly three-year effort is also expected to steer the most needy people living in 1,200 local villages to affluence and even wealth by helping them find new livelihoods, according to a provincial conference on the fight against poverty concluded recently in Nanchang, capital of Jiangxi.
In 2002, Jiangxi finished preparations for 13,522 projects to be implemented over the coming few years in the poverty-stricken villages. In order for the projects to proceed smoothly, the provincial government will allocate 100,000 yuan (US$12,000) a year to each of the poor villages.
By 2005, 10,394 kilometers of roads, 1,310 bridges, 602 kilometers of electrical lines, 773 schools and 300 health stations will be built and 280,000 people will have access to enough water.
In addition, some 1.14 million mu (76,000 hectares) of fruits, commercial forests, and cash crops will be cultivated, along with the mushrooming of several related processing, service and sales businesses.
(Xinhua News Agency Apri 2, 2003)
