Qinghai To Resettle 26,000 People From Poor Areas/ENG

XINING, Feb. 14 2012 (Xinhua) -- Northwest China's Qinghai Province will resettle 26,000 residents from poor areas of the province this year, local authorities said Tuesday.

A fund of 430 million yuan (68 million U.S. dollars), 260 million more than the amount last year, will be spent on their resettlement, said Losum Dawa, chief of the provincial poverty alleviation bureau.

These people, from 6,000 households of farmers and herdsmen, will be relocated from inhospitable regions with scarce resources.

The local government will use the funds on the housing, water, electricity, telecommunications, education and sanitation for the people, as well as job training, to ensure their well being after relocation, said Losum Dawa.

Qinghai is located east of the world's highest and largest plateau, the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, or "the Roof of the World," with its population made up of mostly of Han and Tibetan ethnic groups.

[Description of Source: Beijing Xinhua in English -- China's official news service for English-language audiences (New China News Agency)]