China to Launch Yangtze River Course Dredging Project
The central government is to allocate 200 million yuan (about 24 million US dollars) this year to dredge the course of the Yangtze River so as to ensure the smooth transportation in China's longest water channel, Saturday's Economic Daily reported.
The allocation from the State Development Planning Commission and the Ministry of Communications is to launch the dredging project in 18 spots of the river, said officials with the Yangtze River Navigation Channel Bureau.
Frequent heavy floods in the last two years in the region have resulted in 194 million cubic meters of mud and sand deposited in the lower reaches alone.
Yangtze River with a total length of 6,300 km flows through nine Chinese provinces and autonomous regions. And nearly 400 million people live in its 1.8 million sq km area.
