Special Report: Reconstruction After Earthquake

    BEIJING, April 4 -- A more exact timeline for post-earthquake reconstruction work in Southwest China's Sichuan Province was released Thursday.

    The government says rebuilt rural homes will be completed by the end of this year. People living in cities and towns will be able to move in by May 2010.

    Students who are now attending classes in temporary buildings will be back in permanent structures by next spring.

    Almost all transportation projects, power grids and public service facilities such as hospitals will be rebuilt by September 2010.

    The only work that won't be completed by then will be in some of the worst-hit, rural areas.

    The magnitude-8.0 quake on May 12 last year, killed more than 69,000 people. It also left nearly 18,000 missing, more than 374,000 injured and millions homeless.

    The Sichuan government estimated post-quake rebuilding will cost about 1.6 trillion yuan (235 billion U.S. dollars).

    Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Chengdu.

    (Source: XHTV)