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More investment needed for reconstruction: Sichuan governor

By Fu Jing and Si Tingting (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-03-06 12:38

An investment of 1.7 trillion yuan ($248 billion) would be needed to pay for reconstruction of the quake-stricken Sichuan province, Jiang Jufeng, governor of Sichuan and member of the National People's Congress, said Friday on the sidelines of the annual session of the NPC.

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That sum surpasses the 1 trillion yuan reconstruction bill announced by the National Development and Reform Commission in July.

"Right now, we are facing an investment shortage of 1.3 trillion yuan," Jiang said. "The central government only paid 220.3 billion yuan for the reconstruction."

To ensure sufficient funds for the reconstruction, the Sichuan provincial government will establish investment companies in energy, railway and tourism projects to attract private entities to invest in Sichuan, he said.

Suffering from successive hits by the earthquake and the economic crisis, Sichuan's economy would no doubt experience a downward trend, he said. "We will be facing great difficulties to increase people's incomes and a very tight fiscal budget," he added.