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Yangtze to nurture the north
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THE construction of China's largest water diversion project is expected to begin next year, channelling water from the Yangtze River to thirsty people and scorched lands to the north.
The State Council is expected to approve the construction of the first phase of the project's east line late this year, sources with the Ministry of Water Resources said Monday at a conference in Shanghai.
In the next 15 years, construction of the east and middle lines are scheduled to be completed and put into operation.
During the period, further research on the west line, the most difficult parts of the scheme, will continue, with preparations ready for its possible construction.
Water authorities are gearing up by preparing the project's overall layout and the construction of the first two phases of the east and middle lines, said Zhang Guoliang, president of a special design administration.
Zhang released a new abridged edition of the project, the most detailed ever published. The plan calls for 2,400-kilometre canals to be built in each of the first two phases of the project's east and middle lines to link the Yangtze to the drought-stricken north.
By 2015, the project will divert some 16 billion cubic metres of water from the Yangtze into areas north of the Yellow River that includes the major cities of Beijing, Tianjin and Shijiazhuang.
The thirsty areas have one-third of China's total population, gross national product, farmland and output of grain. This has forced the Central Government to build the project as quickly as possible.
On the 140 billion yuan (US$17 billion) investment, Zhang said he hopes 60 per cent can be granted by the Central Government with the rest by localities that will benefit.
"Small parts of the needed funds can use domestic and overseas bank loans," the paper suggested.
The price of the water from the project's trunk canal is estimated at no less than 1.6 yuan (US$0.20) per cubic metre, the rough equivalent of the present water price in Beijing and Tianjin, Zhang said. Actual costs could double, some senior experts indicated.
Under the systems, three major rivers, the Yellow, Huaihe and Yangtze, will be linked by the project's three longitudinal canals from the south to the north. (SD-Agencies)
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