BEIJING, Sept. 25 -- China's investment in water conservancy projects totaled 801.94 billion yuan (114.23 billion U.S. dollars) in the first eight months of this year, up 10.7 percent year on year, a government official said on Wednesday.

At a press conference on water conservancy infrastructure construction held in Beijing, Wang Bao'en, vice minister of water resources, said that water conservancy project construction on a massive scale has contributed to employment. Construction of such projects created nearly 2.1 million jobs in the first eight months, up 6.9 percent year on year.

Wang said that during the period, the five provinces of Hebei, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Shandong and Anhui each posted investment exceeding 40 billion yuan in the sector.

Government data also shows that since the beginning of this year, a total of 42,000 water conservancy projects have been implemented nationwide, up 14.1 percent year on year. Among them, 28,000 are newly started projects, up 18.7 percent.

Wang said that in the next step, the Ministry of Water Resources will continue to make solid efforts to promote water conservancy infrastructure construction after the main flood season.