Investment in water projects climbs

China invested 190 billion yuan ($27.7 billion) to build projects for water-resource management in the first quarter this year, up 76 percent from the same period last year, said Wang Daoxi, vice-minister of water resources.

The investment helped employ 700,000 workers, including 510,000 from rural areas, he said in a news conference on Friday.

The ministry managed to collect 407 billion yuan of funds for such investment from January to March, up by 15.6 percent year-on-year, he said.