BEIJING - China had invested 360 billion RMB (about US$52.7 billion) in post-earthquake reconstruction as of April, one-third of the planned total, and hoped to complete all work within two years, a government official said on Friday.
In the opinion of Mu Hong, vice director of China's National Development and Reform Commission, most rebuilding of the basic housing and infrastructure had begun and shown planned progress.
The government planned to complete reconstruction before September 2010, after starting in September last year. The target was about one year earlier than it was previously expected.
"Reconstruction work has gotten off to a good start, as one-third of the plan has been completed in one-fourth of the scheduled time," Mu said.
On the other hand, the planned investment totaled about 1 trillion RMB, covering more than 200,000 projects, which included 300 billion RMB of direct investment from the central government, of which 154 billion RMB had been already put into the rebuilding, Mu said.
With sufficient funding, reconstruction of essential infrastructure, such as railroads, highways and airports, was able to be completed and the facilities returned to service, he said.
What is more! Up to 95.7 percent of the reconstruction for rural houses had started, 76.6 percent of which had been finished, according to Mu.
Tang Kai, director of the urban planning department of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, said rural residents in Sichuan Province's quake zone would be back in permanent houses by this winter.
Urban residents would be in new homes before September 2010, as 48.9 percent of urban houses had been reinforced and reconstruction of 40.1 percent of the destroyed houses had begun, with 8.9 percent finished.
He said as it was expected that 98 percent of the factories and 95 percent of the shops had re-opened.
Schools had also been a focus of the rebuilding, as 70 percent of the students were back in their schools, and the government vowed to have all students in their schools by next spring, according to Mu.
TBD
