Part of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project runs through Nanyang, Henan province. Photo/Xinhua

China has invested 567.5 billion yuan ($84 billion) into water conservancy development in the first seven months this year, a 71.4 percent increase compared with the same period last year, said Liu Weiping, vice-minister of water resources.

The investment "has made significant contributions to stabilize investments and boost employment", he said at a news conference on Wednesday.

From January to July, more than 1.6 million people have been employed in constructing water conservancy projects, he said. Of them, over 1.2 million are migrant workers from rural China.

As of the end of July, the number of water conservancy projects under construction in the country had reached 318,000 with a total planned investment of 1.7 trillion yuan, he noted.

The vice-minister stressed that the ministry has intensified its efforts to promote projects of agricultural irrigation and rural water supply, considering that investment into such projects can not only help stabilize economy and create jobs, but also enhance food safety and boost rural development.

In the first seven months of this year, a total of 46.6 billion yuan of investments had been made into developing rural water supply projects, more than twice of that made during the same period last year, he said.

The investment will benefit about 25.3 million rural residents, he added.

By the end of last month, 17.8 billion yuan of investments had been made into building or renovating medium and large-sized irrigated areas across the country, he said. In total 455 such projects have been launched.