South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region reduced the needy population, whose yearly income is below four hundred yuan (US$50), from 1.5 million to 860,000 during the past five years.

 

At the on-going fourth session of Guangxi's tenth People's Congress, regional chairman Lu Bing said apart from the 640,000 people who were lifted from the poverty line, Guangxi also helped raise the earnings of 3.24 million people with low incomes.

 

The official said Guangxi kept increasing its investment in poverty-stricken areas during the past five years.

 

The infrastructure construction in the autonomous region has contributed greatly to the poverty alleviation.

 

Lu said Guangxi built 41,200 kilometers of roads connecting the poverty-stricken villages and 760,000 methane-generating pits for the villagers.

 

With the five-year efforts, the average yearly income of the people in Guangxi's 28 key poverty-reduction counties kept increasing by 6 percent every year, reaching more than 1,600 yuan (US$200).

 

The official said Guangxi will lift all its population above the national poverty line, with an annual income of not more than 400 yuan, by 2010.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 16, 2006)