China has launched a national project which aims to solve electricity shortages in rural areas by building more small hydropower stations.

The project, launched on Tuesday, will operate in places where farmers are required to return low-yield farmland to forest, nature reserves, and natural forest, according to the Ministry of Water Resources.

The project is expected to enable 104 million farmers to have access to electricity by 2020, while in the past, they burned firewood for cooking meals and heating.

Experts estimated that the project would help save 22.67 million hectares of forest, and reduce the discharge of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide by 200 million tons and 920,000 tons, respectively.

Under the plan, small power stations with a combined capacity of 24.03 million kilowatts will be constructed in the next 18 years.

(Xinhua News Agency January 2, 2004)