Water diversion project accelerated

By Liang Chao (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-07-30 17:06

BAZHOU, Hebei: Ground was broken on Wednesday to launch into full swing the construction of the middle route of the south-to-north water diversion project in Hebei province.

As many bulldozers were put into full operation together, work on a 131-km-long section of buried culvert, part of the 155 km-long Tianjin trunk canal of the middle route, began in Hebei, one of North China’s provinces facing worsening water scarcity.

The culvert, with a maximum water flow of 60 cubic meters per second, involved an investment of 7.46 billion yuan ($1.09 billion), was designed to passing through 8 cities and counties throughout Hebei before joining up with the Tianjin trunk canal launched since last Nov.

The day before, construction of another part of the middle route in Zhengzhou was also kicked off to inaugurate the trunk canal up to 731 km-long in Henan province, where fresh water is planned to flow across riverbed of the Yellow River to prevented pollution before flowing into Beijing and Tianjin totally by gravity.

“The kickoff of the two sections marked a new round of the full-scale construction along the middle route since its completion was once bogged down and thus postponed for four years from 2010 to 2014” due to issues surrounding investment and other economic and social factors such as rising prices, sources with the office responsible for the water diversion project under the State Council, said.

The colossal South-to-North Water Diversion Project, consisting of the eastern, middle and western routes, will divert water from the water-rich south of the country, mainly the Yangtze River, the country’s longest, to the dry north.

Both of the eastern and middle routes are already under construction. The western route, meant to replenish the Yellow River with water diverted from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River by creating huge tunnels in the high mountains of western China, is still in the blueprint stages, insiders say.

Construction for the first phase of the two routes was officially launched six years ago. Since then, over 40 item projects were under construction, involving an accumulated investment of 58.97 billion yuan ($8.63 billion), with 53.2 percent already completed.

According to Zhang Jiyao, top official of the office, completion of the first phase of the east and central lines is scheduled for 2013 and 2014 respectively when all the built sections were joined together as two gigantic canals, each running over 1,000 km across the eastern and central parts of the country.

By then, it is expected that the northern provinces and surrounding areas will have their chronic water supply shortages largely eased up, and that economic growth will be pushed forward and well balanced one another with the help of more freshwater from the south.