A photo shows the Yellow River passing through Gansu province, where the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Loess Plateau meet. [Photo by TIAN MANCHAO/FOR CHINA DAILY]

China has invested 921 billion yuan ($130 billion) into water conservancy development in the first 10 months of this year, as it strives to tap the potential of such investment in helping maintain stable macroeconomic performance, according to the Ministry of Water Resources.

That represents a rise of 63.3 percent over the same period last year, said Vice-Minister Liu Weiping at a news conference on Wednesday.

"Water conservancy construction has played a consistently important role in boosting employment," he said. "To date, 2.26 million people have been employed in water conservancy projects this year, 1.83 million of whom are laborers from rural China."

He said the ministry has made remarkable progress in broadening funding channels.

From January to October, the ministry managed to collect over 1.1 trillion yuan for water conservancy development, 53 percent more than the first 10 months last year, he said. This happened thanks to greater contributions from government bonds, bank loans and private capital.

Government bonds issued by local authorities across the country, for example, contributed almost 198 billion yuan, more than double that in the same period last year, he noted.

The vice-minister pledged persistent and intensified efforts from the ministry to ensure a total investment of over 1 trillion yuan in water conservancy development this year in a move to help boost the economy.

In September, the ministry passed its target of at least 800 billion yuan of water conservancy investment this year.

China saw about 802 billion yuan of such investment in 2021, up 4.2 percent from the previous year.