Xinjiang to spur growth via heavy infrastructure investment

URUMQI - Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region plans to spend over 1.5 trillion yuan ($218 billion) on infrastructure this year, according to the?local government work report issued earlier this week.

Xinjiang invested 998.4 billion yuan and concluded construction of 62 major rail, expressway and energy projects last year, local authorities said.

This year, the government plans to make 50 percent more investment to further boost regional economic growth.

Covering an area of 1.6 million square kilometers, or about one-sixth of China's land area, Xinjiang is huge and infrastructure is still far from enough to support its development.

Under the plan, the autonomous region will spend heavily on transport. This includes more than 200 billion yuan on new roads, 34.7 billion on the rail network and 14.4 billion to upgrade the airport in the capital Urumqi.

The region also plans to invest over 227 billion yuan in projects including water diversion, power transmission and cloud computing.

Upgrading infrastructure in Xinjiang is important for tackling overcapacity, deepening supply-side reform and supporting China's "Belt and Road" initiative, according to the work report.