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Key Basic Projects Advance Smoothly
Significant success has been achieved since the beginning of this year on progressing four key infrastructure projects.
These schemes include the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the West-to-East power and natural gas transmission and the South-to-North water diversion.
Ceremonies were held simultaneously in Qinghai's Golmud and Tibet's Lhasa in June to mark the start-up of the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.
And in just four months a total of more than 380 million yuan (US$46 million) has been ploughed into building 60 bridges, 271 culverts and 3 tunnels along the line.
Constructors of the project have completed two extra large bridges, one culvert and more than 5 million cubic metres of roadbed.
To tap and transmit the vast natural resources in the western regions to the eastern regions, the State also drafted ambitious plans on trans-regional electricity and natural gas transmission.
Among the West-to-East power transmission project, which kicked off in July, the Longtan Hydro-power Station in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region ranks only after the famous Three-Gorges Dam Project. A large-scale Gongbo Gorge hydropower station in Northwest China's Qinghai Province is going to generate power in 2004.
Early-phase hydrological surveys, research and designs on some other hydropower stations in Sichuan Province are being conducted fully.
Great strides have also been made on feasibility studies for the West-to-East natural gas transmission project, which will involve a 4,000-kilometre gas pipeline - 167 kilometres shorter than the original design.
Several new natural gas fields have been detected in the West, which provides a stable supply for the transmission in the near future.
All the preparation work and market expansion efforts have been conducted smoothly.
An intense campaign is going on in preparation for the most controversial project to divert water from southern China to the North.
The Ministry of Water Resources and the State Development Planning Commission jointly held a forum to tackle water transmission-related issues.
According to the forum, the preparation for the water diversion project emphasizes water saving, pollution control and environmental protection as well as where investment should be directed.
Source: China Daily
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