China's Minister of Water Resources Chen Lei said the government is planning to invest $636 billion through 2020 in various projects to harness water and prevent related disasters.

Chen said the investment will mainly be channeled from various levels of government, while some of the projects are open to foreign investors.

"Investment will be scaled up in the coming decade and a water financing mechanism with a public budget and revenue as a major channel shall be set up," Chen said at the Ministerial Conference of the World Water Forum, which began on Monday.