The Chinese central government is continuing to invest in China's western region with 12 new key projects for 2006, according to the Office of the Leading Group for Western Region Development under the State Council.

Total investment for the new projects is estimated to reach 165.4 billion yuan (US$20.4 billion).

The projects range from construction of railways, roads, airports, coal mines, power stations and reservoirs to the development of forestry and agriculture, chemical industries, high-tech industries, and education and health facilities.

From 2000 to the end of 2005, the central government invested nearly 1,000 billion yuan (US$123.3 billion) in 70 key projects in China's western region to improve weak infrastructure and promote local economic development.

The Western Development Programme designed by the central government covers 12 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities including Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Tibet, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Guangxi.

In all, 6.85 million square kilometres of land, or 71.4 per cent of China's total land area, is covered by the programme. The region's population reached 367 million by the end of 2003, accounting for 28.8 per cent of the country's entire population.

The western region's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2003, however, was just 2,266 billion yuan (US$279.4 billion), or 16.8 per cent of China's total, the official said.

The central government designed the Western Development Programme in January 2000 to promote local economic development and established an office of the leading group on January 16 of that year.

Through the programme, the western region has witnessed rapid economic development and promoted co-operation both with China's fast-developing eastern areas and with foreign countries.

In the past five years, the power, coal, oil and natural gas, non-ferrous metals, cotton, livestock and tourism industries, as well as some high-technology sectors, have made great progress.

More than US$9 billion has been invested there directly by foreign companies, while approximately 10,000 enterprises from China's eastern regions have made investments and entered into co-operative agreements worth more than 300 billion yuan (US$37 billion) in the west since the programme's implementation.

Investment in the west is steadily strengthening as its economic development increases. More investors, both Chinese and international, are becoming interested in the vast region and its natural resources.

Several large-scale investment and co-operative projects were signed during the annual economic and trade fair held in Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, in early April.

According to the fair's organizing committee, more than 3,000 businesspeople and investors from 45 foreign countries and regions took part in the event. A total of 142 projects worth US$2.43 billion in foreign investment were signed during the 10-day fair. The value represents a 30.4% increase over the figure for the 2005 meeting.

Meanwhile, 1,155 co-operative projects were also signed between China's eastern and western enterprises and governments, with total investment valued at 125.7 billion yuan (US$15.5 billion), 65 per cent more than the previous fair, the organizing committee said.