A cotton picker toils in a field near the city of Hami in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Photo: CFP

China will continue its efforts to develop western regions in nine major fields including infrastructure, urbanization and ecological protection, the country's top economic planner said Monday.

The priority of regional development in 2014 is western development, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in a statement on its website, noting the government will improve and implement differential policies in western regions, and roll out a catalog of priority industries in western regions as soon as possible.

The NDRC said it will push forward the construction of railway, highway and water projects in western regions this year to solve transportation and water supply problems. 

"China's western regions are rich in mineral resources, but lack of transportation infrastructure, especially railways, has prevented them from transporting goods to resource-thirsty regions," Yi Peng, chief researcher on urbanization with think tank Pangoal in Beijing, told the Global Times on Monday.

Data from the commission showed that construction on 20 major projects in the western regions started in 2013, with an investment of 326.5 billion yuan ($53.87 billion) to finance the construction of highways, airports, hydropower and wind power stations.

"Infrastructure construction is a long-term task in western regions despite more than a decade of development, as it still largely lags behind eastern regions," Xu Zhangyong, a professor at School of Economics and Management with Xi'an-based Northwest University, told the Global Times on Monday.

The NDRC also said China will further open up its western regions especially in cities such as Chongqing, Chengdu, Xi'an and Nanning, as well as step up efforts to build the Silk Road economic belt, a collaborative scheme proposed by President Xi Jinping and joined later by 24 cities from eight countries.

Yi said such a move is in accordance with Chinese policymakers' strategy to promote reform through opening-up.

"After years of opening-up along the coastal areas, opening up western ­regions will also boost local economic development and help maintain ­regional stability," he said.

Other issues on the NDRC agenda this year include industrial upgrade, ecological protection and post-disaster reconstruction in earthquake-hit Lushan, Sichuan Province. The NDRC will also research the 13th five-year development plan (2016-20) for western regions.

Goals set in the 12th five-year development plan (2011-15) for western regions - including higher GDP and a residential income growth pace higher than the national average - will be ­realized, but problems such as lagging behind in railway construction, lacking water resources, growing pressure for energy-saving and environmental protection need to be solved, the NDRC said in a ­December 2013 statement.

"The next plan's focus should turn to ecological protection and social welfare, which will be helpful to western regions' sustainable development," Xu said.

China's western regions are seen as a new growth engine for the country's economy when eastern regions are experiencing industrial overcapacity and falling external demand, experts said.

The growth rate of major economic indicators in western regions - comprised of 12 municipalities, provinces and autonomous regions - is expected to be higher than that of eastern regions for a seventh consecutive year in 2013, the NDRC said Monday.

The GDP in China's western regions, for instance, grew 10.7 percent year-on-year in the first three quarters of 2013, which is 1.6 percentage points higher than eastern regions and 1 percentage point higher than central regions, the NDRC said.