The National Development and Reform Commission, China's top planning body, has issued a relocation plan for poverty alleviation during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) period to relocate about 10 million registered impoverished people to lift them out of poverty in five years.

There are about 9.81 million registered impoverished people in 1,400 counties of 22 provincial regions of China. Such people in 18 central and western provinces and regions account for more than 95 percent of those to be relocated. Some of them live in remote and border areas, especially in the mountains where the climate is harsh and infrastructure poor. Others are concentrated in national environmental protection regions, where development activities are restricted. Still others live in areas prone to natural disasters.

The plan also requires the authorities to assess the environmental and resource-carrying capacity of areas where more than 800 people are to be resettled. And to provide adequate public services to the relocated people, the authorities have to build infrastructure, including 110,000 kilometers of roads, a 140,000-km network of pipes to supply water, a 120,000-km network of power distribution, 16 million square meters of buildings for schools and kindergartens, and 5.7 million sq m for clinics.

An estimated 950 billion yuan ($151 billion) will be needed to execute the plan during the 13th Five-Year Plan period.