Key section of water diversion project ready for
www.chinaview.cn 2004-11-25 23:31:41
WUHAN, Nov. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- Construction on a key section on the central route of the water diversion project from the Yangtze River and its tributaries to northern China has been approved by the State Council recently.
Construction will begin soon on the section, which will raise the height of the Danjiangkou Dam from the present 162 meters to 176.6 meters. This will be the most important part of the central route of the south-north water diversion project, said officials with the Yangtze River Water Resources Committee.
The Danjiangkou Reservoir, located 800 meters below the meeting point of the Hanjiang river and its tributary Danjiang river in northwestern Hubei, central China, was the largest man-made lake in Asia when it was built in 1966. It is to be the principal source of water on the central route of the south-to-north water diversion project.
Officials said when the height of dam is raised, the dam's storage capacity will be 29.05 billion cubic meters, 11.6 billion cubic meters more than the early stage capacity. The project should divert 9.5 billion cubic meters of water to the North Chinaon an annual basis and 13 to 14 billion cubic meters by the year 2030.
Completion of the dam project will ease the pressure on the middle and lower reaches of the Hanjiang and Yangtze rivers in theflood season and provide high-quality water to the arid areas in northern China, said experts.
Sources from the Yangtze River Water Resources Committee said that the total cost for the dam project will be more than 2 billion yuan (about 246 million US dollars).
More than 2,000 local people who lived in villages in the construction site and dam area will soon be moved to other regions,said the committee.
Currently, the government of Danjiangkou is working on the issues of migration and protection of ancient cultural relics excavated in the dam area.
The massive south-to-north water diversion project, which beganconstruction in December 2002, will divert water from the Yangtze,China's longest river, to the country's drought-affected north viaeastern, central and western routes.
The central route project, with a total length of 1,427 kilometers, is designed to divert water from the Danjiangkou Reservoir on the upper reaches of the Hanjiang river right up to Beijing and Tianjin municipalities, and Hebei, Henan and Hubei provinces. Enditem
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