Economic Watch: Shaanxi relocations latest step in poverty alleviation
Xinhua, April 23, 2016 Adjust font size:
Shaanxi Province's plan to relocate 2.35 million people from disadvantaged rural areas to other areas with better conditions is the latest example of a poverty alleviation strategy being used across China.
Shaanxi officials said on Thursday that they would spend 132 billion yuan (20 billion U.S. dollars) on relocations in the coming five years, hoping to help China meet its goal of eliminating poverty by 2020.
Across the country, more than 2.49 million people living below the poverty line of 2,300 yuan in annual income (at constant price of 2010) will be relocated in 2016.
Top officials are steering the relocation campaign to ensure it is effective in improving the lives of impoverished people.
The bottom line is that those relocated should be able to afford their new homes, Vice Premier Wang Yang told a meeting on poverty relief last month. And they should be offered follow-up support, Wang said.
About 70 million Chinese were still living below the poverty line last year, many of them in harsh conditions without roads, water and power.
The top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), has asked local authorities to step up their poverty alleviation work.
It has allocated 16 billion yuan to the regions since March and arranged large amounts of low-interest loans and special construction funding. Endi