460,000 Xinjiang residents to gain power access in 2014

URUMQI -- A total of 460,000 residents in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region will gain access to electricity in 2014, power grid officials said on Thursday.

On Thursday, a power transmission project began in Tuoyun village of Wuqia county in the westernmost area of Xinjiang, where nearly 3,700 nomads will be able to bid farewell to candlelight.

Yang Chi, manager of the Wuqia branch of State Grid Electricity Power of Xinjiang, said the project with investment of 7.97 million yuan ($1.3 million) is expected to be completed by the end of April.

New electricity transmission lines will stretch into Aksu, Kashgar, Hotan and Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture in the south of the region, with investment of 2.08 billion yuan, said Zhao Qingshan, vice president of the Xinjiang branch of the State Grid Corporation.

The extended networks will help 460,000 residents who have remained the only group in the region without power to get rid of candles and diesel engines in 2014, a year in advance of the scheduled date, according to Zhao.

Zhao said that by the end of 2013, more than 521,500 residents in seven areas, including Hami and Altay, had gained access to electricity thanks to a policy carried out in 2010.

Covering 1.66 million square kilometers, the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region covers roughly one-sixth of the nation's land area. Accessing power has been hard for people living in remote deserts or forests.