Beijing, Nov 5 (IANS): China plans to build 20 new major water conservation projects in 2016 amid efforts to boost investment and stabilise growth, the media reported on Thursday.

The total investment in major water projects under construction should be no less than 800 billion yuan ($126.2 billion), according to the ministry of water resources.

From January to October, 27 new water projects were started, attracting around 114.7 billion yuan in new investment, Xinhua news agency quoted Wang Annan, senior engineer with the MWR, as saying.

The projects, once completed, could generate around 7.2 billion cubic metres of water supply every year, and about 320,000 kw of installed power capacity, Wang said.

Among the 27 projects started in 2015, 21 were located in central and western China, bringing strong economic and social benefits to the less developed regions.

Around 266.62 billion yuan was used as part of the central government's investment plan on water conservation construction during the first ten months of 2015, up 67.2 percent year on year.