Pingtan will invest heavily in hydraulic projects in 2013 as part of the island county's effort to enhance its public infrastructure, according to a local official with the economic development bureau of the Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone, reported Chinanews' Fuzhou bureau on Feb 12.

Pingtan is a coastal island county that lacks fresh water. It has launched major hydraulic projects for water transfer and flood protection since the pilot zone's establishment in 2010.

The zone invested 1.2 billion yuan ($192.6 million) into water projects in 2012, a 176 percent increase from 2011's figure of 434 million yuan.

A project to transfer fresh water from the Minjiang River is also expected to be approved by the end of March and start construction, according to Liu Daoqi, director of the Fujian Provincial Department of Water Resources.

The project is currently undergoing preparatory work. Fresh water will be transferred from the Dazhang River in Fuzhou, Fujian's provincial capital, to the Thirty-Six Feet Lake in Pingtan to ease the island county's tight water supply with an estimated daily capacity of 110,000 tons.

Edited by Chen Zhilin and Michael Thai