Sichuan province will finish reconstructing all the rural houses that were destroyed in the massive earthquake on May 12 last year by September, Governor Jiang Jufeng said yesterday.

Students stroll pass the newly rebuilt Tuqiao primary school in Dujiangyan city, Sichuan Province, yesterday. The school, which was destroyed during the May 12 earthquake, was rebuilt with support from the Shanghai municipal government. [Xinhua photo]

"At the end of last year, more than 560,000 rural houses were rebuilt. We will try our best to finish reconstructing the remaining houses by September," Jiang said in his government report delivered at the opening ceremony of the 2nd session of the province's 11th people's congress yesterday.

More than 1 million houses in the province were damaged in the magnitude-8 quake that killed nearly 70,000 people and left more than 5 million homeless.

To achieve the goal, the province will offer subsidies, loans and technical guidance to the farmers, and ensure the supply and quality of construction material, the governor pledged.

Also on the provincial government's agenda is reconstructing 2,811 schools and 1,167 hospitals destroyed in the quake before the end of 2009, he said.

Last year, Sichuan kicked off more than 8,400 post-quake reconstruction projects and more than 97 percent of its quake-affected industrial enterprises resumed production.

The province will start reconstructing its roads and finish repairing more than 1,000 reservoirs, and complete reconstruction of sapling bases with an area of 7,600 hectares in 2009, Jiang said.

By the end of 2010, Sichuan would have invested 1.7 trillion yuan in post-quake reconstruction, he said.

The hefty investment is aimed at coping with the aftermath of the devastating earthquake as well as the global financial crisis to boost the province's smooth economic development, the governor said.

He disclosed that his province would ensure that its GDP rises by 9 percent, its revenue by 10 per cent, its urban residents' income rise by 10 per cent, and its rural residents' income by more than 8 per cent, while creating 620,000 new jobs in cities.

To fulfill the objective, Sichuan will invest more than 1 trillion yuan to accelerate infrastructure construction, improve people's livelihoods and the environment, Jiang said.

It will also accelerate construction of major projects such as the Chengdu-Dujiangyan express railway, Chengdu-Mianyang-Leshan special passenger railway and Lanzhou-Chongqing railway in 2009.

(China Daily January 16, 2009)