An experimental project in southwestern China's Guizhou Province
proved that construction aided by commercial loans from the Asian
Development Bank (ADB) in China's poor areas is able to get good
economic returns, according to an ADB official.
The project, called ADB-aided Nayong poverty-relief pilot
project, has been going on in Guizhou for five years. The bank
provided US$199,000, said Wu Guobao, a poverty-relief consultant
with the ADB China office, at a symposium held recently in the
province on poverty alleviation in rural areas.
Latest local survey shows that the project recorded an
investment return of as much as 15 percent.
The cooperative project launched by the ADB and the Chinese
government directly assessed the feasibility of relieving poverty
with commercial loans from the ADB. Experiment findings from the
project will be used for making policy adjustments in capital
management, petty credit extension, rural infrastructure
construction and farm produce processing, according to Wu
Guobao.
With 97 percent mountains and as a home to 49 ethnic groups,
Guizhou Province is the quintessential poor rural region of China.
The area accounts for 10 percent of the nation's 29-million rural
population living in absolute poverty, or on less than US$76.7 a
year.
If the above pilot program succeeds in Guizhou, it should
achieve the same result in other places of China, said Min Tang,
chief economist with the ADB China office.
The experimental project has established six drinking water
systems, built 2.4 kilometers of irrigation channels and 3.8
kilometers of highway and provided electricity for farmers from two
villages. It has also extended development funds to 46 rural
households, according to Min Tang.
The local survey also found that from 1999 to 2003, two villages
covered by the project had their per-capita pure income increase by
97 percent and 86 percent, respectively, to 1,434.63 yuan
(US$172.85) and 1,135.6 yuan (US$136.82).
(Xinhua News Agency October 9, 2004)