China plans to relocate more than seven million poverty-stricken
rural residents from areas with extremely adverse natural
conditions, as part of its effort to eliminate poverty, a senior
official said in Beijing on Saturday.
Lu
Feijie, deputy head of the State Council Leading Group for Poverty
Alleviation and Development and a member of the National Committee
of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC),
said that funding for anti-poverty endeavors will be boosted while
poor farmers will have easier access to bank loans.
"Seven million rural residents have to be moved and resettlement
has proven an effective way to get them out of poverty," said Lu,
who was answering questions about poverty relief and western
development at a press conference sponsored by the ongoing First
Session of the 10th CPPCC National Committee.
In
the past decade, more than 2.7 million people moved to new areas
under a government resettlement program, and over 90 percent of
them described their new life as "satisfactory", according to the
official.
China still has about 28 million poverty-hit people in rural,
remote areas.
Relocation will be on a "voluntary" basis, Lu said, adding that the
government will provide those rural residents with necessary
assistance in building new homes and finding income resources.
According to the official, resettlement of each rural resident
costs 5,000-10,000 yuan (about US$602 - US$1,204), and the
government plans to spend 3-5 billion yuan (US$361-602 million) for
the purpose.
Since 1986, China's banks have extended special loans of up to 125
billion yuan to poor farmers.
The World Bank's criterion for absolute poverty is per-capita daily
consumption of US$1 and below.
(Xinhua News Agency March 8, 2003)
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