China will commit 21 billion yuan (US$3.1 billion) within three years for reconstruction work in quake-hit Yushu, Qinghai Province, a northwest Chinese region with a predominantly Tibetan population.

China's Finance Minister Xie Xuren announced the assistance to Yushu in his report on the implementation of the fiscal budget plan for the first seven months of this year.

The report, usually made in June each year, has been presented to the 16th Session of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People's Congress, a bimonthly session running from August 23 to August 28.

The central government will earmark 9 billion yuan for this year, 10 billion yuan for 2011 and 2 billion yuan for 2012, said Xie.

The 7.1-magnitude quake that struck Yushu on April 14 this year left 2,698 people dead and 270 missing. The quake's epicenter was Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.

China has allocated 91.89 billion yuan for quake-hit Wenchuan this year, accounting for 91.62 percent of the total 100.3 billion yuan earmarked for this area for 2010, according to the report.

The 8.0-magnitude quake struck Wenchuan county, southwest China's Sichuan province, on May 12, 2008, leaving 87,000 people dead or missing and millions homeless.

Xie also said that China's fiscal revenues jumped 25.7 percent from one year earlier to 5.11 trillion yuan during the first seven months, while the nationwide expenditure, climbed 16.9 percent from the same period last year to 3.96 trillion yuan.

(Xinhua News Agency August 27, 2010)