(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-05-23 15:04

China's post-earthquake reconstruction work will take three years, said Li Chengyun, vice governor of Sichuan here on Friday.

Li told a press conference in Beijing that the provincial government planned to build new villages, townships and cities in the quake-ravaged province in those three years.

He said the quake caused heavy disasters in an area of 100,000 square km, which covered 19 of Sichuan's 21 cities and prefectures. Infrastructure facilities in eight mountainous counties worst hit in the earthquake were devastated.

"The rebuilding work would face a lot of difficulty in the region, where the mountains have been shaken loose in the 8-magnitude earthquake and more than 7,000 aftershocks," said the official at the press conference held by the Information Office of the State Council.

"The priority work in the reconstruction is to find proper locations for rural residents to build houses. We will strive to make such village houses ready for them before winter comes," said Li.

Li said that the provincial civil affairs bureau has seen 5.4 billion yuan (US$771 million) of special relief funds in place and received donations worth 2.8 billion yuan.

In order to build new homes for more than 5.47 million people who were left homeless in the disaster and recover basic infrastructures there, the central government has announced 70 billion yuan of funds on relief and reconstruction work, and pledged further reconstruction funding to be allocated later, if needed.

The official said the reconstruction will be done by taking considerations of measures to boost the local industrial development and build new townships and countryside in Sichuan.