URUMQI — Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region will train 1.2 million rural residents by 2020 as part of a new wave of infrastructure spending.

Xinjiang's fixed asset investment will surpass 1.5 trillion yuan (around $217 billion) in 2017, up more than 50 percent year-on-year. The training program aims to meet labor demand in various projects, mainly in infrastructure sectors such as transport, water conservancy, energy and telecommunication.

"Xinjiang will provide language and skills training to 800,000 farmers and herdsmen that have no working experience, over the next four years," said Ming Hong, deputy head of regional department of human resources and social security.

Meanwhile, vocational schools, training agencies and enterprises will offer training ranging from one month to three months to 360,000 rural workers who have certain skills and working experience, according to Ming.

"From this year to 2020, another 40,000 young people, mainly from southern Xinjiang, will enroll in vocational schools and be offered occupational qualification certificates after two to three years of study," Ming said.

Addressing the employment of surplus labor is key to Xinjiang's social stability and economic development.

The free training program will be launched in April, and the rural labor force will learn specific skills based on projects they will participate in.