China will invest over 1 trillion yuan ($139 billion) in water conservancy development projects this year, according to the Ministry of Water Resources.

Vice-Minister Liu Weiping announced the new target at a news conference on Tuesday, after the existing yearly target of 800 billion yuan had been passed earlier than expected.

Between January and September, 823.6 billion yuan was invested in water conservancy development projects across the country, an increase of 64.1 percent on the same period last year, he noted.

Liu said that roughly 2.1 million people have been employed by the projects, including 1.7 million rural laborers.

By the end of September, the number of water conservancy projects under construction stood at 37,700, with total planned investment of 1.9 trillion yuan.

According to the ministry, some 802.8 billion yuan was invested in water conservancy projects last year, an increase of 4.2 percent on 2020.