China's Massive Cross-country Water Project Approved

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, November 26, 2002

China's Massive Cross-country Water Project Approved

The central government has officially approved the construction of the multi-billion-dollar project to divert water from southern China to quench the thirst of its northern neighbours.

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China announced Monday it has approved in principle a plan to build the world's most massive water transfer project.

Addressing a press conference in Beijing Monday, Minister of Water Resources Zhao Jiyao called the South-North Cross-Country Water-Transfer Project a strategic infrastructure undertaking for China's sustainable development and a huge environmental endeavor.

He quoted Premier Zhu Rongji as once saying that the project isaimed at relieving severe water shortage in north China, and it will conserve water, tackle pollution and be environmentally friendly.

The project, mapped out as eastern, middle and western diversion routes across nearly half of China, is aimed to forming a water network among the nation's longest rivers, including the Yangtze, Yellow, Huaihe and Haihe rivers.

Zhang said the government plans to invest 154.8 billion yuan (US$18.65 billion) in the first-phase project of the eastern and middle line project, which will be finished in the next five to 10 years.

By 2050, it is expected to be capable of shifting 44.8 billion cubic meters of water annually, with 14.8 billion cubic meters, 13billion cubic meters and 17 billion cubic meters carried out the eastern, central and western canals respectively.

In the first phase of the project, three sub-projects will include two sections of the eastern canal in Jiangsu and Shandong provinces, and the shoring-up of the Danjiangkou Reservoir Dam in central China's Hubei Province, at the head of the central canal.

The central canal will draw Yangtze River water up to Beijing by 2010, and the eastern canal will take Yangtze River water to Shandong Province by 2005.

The completion of the first-phase sub-projects are likely to improve the quality of drinking water in some northern areas whereunderground water contains harmful pollutants.

Zhang did not reveal the total investment required under the mammoth project, which is expected to cost more than the Three Gorges Project on the Yangtze River.

Experts said when the project is completed, the annual diversion will be equal to the annual run-off of the Yellow River, the second-longest river in China.

"The south-to-north water diversion project is a mega-project that is strategically aimed at realizing the optimal allocation of water resources,'' Zhang said.

The northern dry areas have one-third of China's population, gross national product, farmland and grain output. This requires the State to build the project as quickly as possible, Zhang said.

In China, water is scarce not only in landlocked areas, but also in some coastal regions.

A recent survey shows 400 of 600 major Chinese cities are suffering from water shortages, which cause economic losses amounting to more than 120 billion yuan (US$14.5 billion) annually.

Even with the ambitious diversion plan, experts insisted China should adopt new water preservation strategies, including water-saving agriculture, urban water pollution control and sustainable water utilization.

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