Big funds to improve livelihood in Xinjiang

The government of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region will continue to allocate large sums of money in 2014 toward enhancing local livelihood, authorities said. A total of 61.66 billion yuan (about 10.17 billion U.S. dollars) will be handed out this year to help steer 150 projects covering employment, housing, healthcare, agriculture, and other fields, said Huang Wei, member of the regional Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China, on Tuesday. Huang said that the funds will be used to build 259,600 new houses, generate 450,000 new jobs, and improve healthcare for rural and city residents in Xinjiang. He added that 42 projects related to water, electricity, healthcare and the Internet will be carried out in the region's countryside, while counties will have 20 projects, including construction of schools, kindergartens and homes for the elderly. The funding is part of the region's fourth "Livelihood-building Year," an initiative started by the regional government in 2010. More than 484 billion yuan has been mobilized in the past four years thanks to the high-profile initiative, which has been credited with helping transform the livelihood of the local population.