Fair Share of Earnings

The Chinese Government released a plan that will enable poor people to receive their fair share of earnings from local hydropower plants and mining projects in October. To pilot the reform, the government will select 20 projects in impoverished areas and counties targeted in the national poverty alleviation program, according to the plan. Local rural residents will be able to acquire stakes in such projects with compensation they receive for land occupied by the project construction, the plan said. This way, rural residents will receive proceeds from the projects’ operations, with priority given to registered poor households. The reform will be carried out from late 2016 to the end of 2019, and the chosen projects will start construction in 2017. The reform is part of China’s precise poverty relief efforts, or targeted efforts to help specific impoverished groups, said Yang Qian, an official with the National Development and Reform Commission.