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Yangtze Flood Work Rolls on Schedule
Millions of residents living along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River will be free of the regular flood threat soon as reinforcement of all levies, the biggest anti-flood defense shield along the river, is progressing to meet the 2003 deadline.
The concurrent project to relocate 2.45 million people to higher ground is also advancing smoothly, and is set to be finished before next year's summer flood season.
Zeng Peiyan, minister of the State Development Planning Commission, said Tuesday that more than 60 percent of the people have been settled in newly-built towns, where they have new roads, telephones, electricity and a safe water supply as well as medical clinics and schools.
The dual projects, aimed at taming China's longest waterway, have topped State's agenda since the devastating flood in 1999 which claimed about 4,000 lives and ravaged many homes in four provinces along the river in central China.
The cost of the relocation will total over 10 billion yuan and will be paid for with State funds.
More than 90 percent of the embankment project is expected to be completed by the end of next year.
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