According to a leading group conducting the west development strategy, China plans to invest 363.5 billion yuan (44 billion US dollars) to the west in 2003, including 76 key projects.

Eight key projects were completed last year, including three road construction projects, an airport extension in Shaanxi Province and four west-east electricity transmission projects.

The gigantic and technically challenging Qinghai-Tibet Railway project has stretched its track length to 317 kilometers, with 195 kilometers newly finished last year.

Another significant project is China's west-east natural gas pipeline project, starting from Tarim of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to Shanghai. The 3,900 kilometer gas pipeline used 11.65 billion yuan (1.4 billion US dollars) last year, and brought the total fulfilled investment to 21.6 billion yuan (2.6 billion US dollars), accounting for 49.7 percent of the project's total investment.

China initiated the western development strategy in 2000 to help the relatively backward western regions catch up with the well-off eastern regions. The strategy is supported by a series of preferential policies for the development of the western regions, including more investment, preferential tax rates and flexible policies.