BEIJING — China will invest about 100 billion yuan (around $15.2 billion) to reinforce dilapidated reservoirs in the next five years, the Ministry of Water Resources said on Nov 30.

The country will mobilize private investment along with central and local fiscal funds to renovate reservoirs posing dangers, especially small reservoirs that were damaged by severe floods this year, Ye Jianchun, vice-minister of water resources, told a press conference.

China has some 98,000 reservoirs, mostly built in the 1950s to 1970s, with the vast majority being small reservoirs.

The country has allocated about 155.3 billion yuan in recent years to reinforce 2,800 large and medium-sized reservoirs and more than 69,000 small sites, according to Ye.