BEIJING, Nov. 16 -- China's annual investment in water conservancy projects is expected to top 1 trillion yuan (about 142 billion U.S. dollars) for the first time in 2022, Vice Minister of Water Resources Liu Weiping said on Wednesday.

In the first ten months of this year, China completed investments worth 921.1 billion yuan in water conservancy projects, including 97.5 billion yuan in October alone, Liu told a press conference.

Since the beginning of this year, China has started construction on 24,000 water conservancy projects with a combined investment of 1.15 trillion yuan, among which a record-setting 45 are major projects, Liu said.

Water conservancy construction projects created 2.26 million jobs during the first ten months, including 1.83 million for rural workers.

The country will continue to advance such construction while ensuring quality and safety to help consolidate economic recovery, Liu said.