China to relocate over 7 lakh poor people for 'better life'

Beijing: Over 7.50 lakh people in China's southwest Guizhou province would be relocated this year at a cost of USD 6.6 billion as a poverty alleviation measure.

A total of 1.81 lakh households will be moved from remote, inhospitable areas in the hope of providing them with a better life in the province which is one of the most impoverished provinces in the country, Wang Yingzheng, head of a provincial relocation bureau



said.

Over 3,600 villages will be moved, accounting for about 30 per cent of those to be relocated, said Wang.

The cost of the operation is estimated at 45 billion yuan (USD 6.6 billion), state-run Xinhua news agency reported today.

"We are moving two thirds more people than last year," he said.

China plans to lift 10 million people above poverty line this year, with Guizhou one of the frontline provinces.