US$19 billion in Huaihe flood control
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-08-02 11:31
China plans to invest 155.4 billion yuan (19 billion U.S. dollars) in the
next 20 years to enhance flood control on the Huaihe River, a flood-prone river
in east China.
More reservoirs will be built in the upper reaches of the
river to control flood, according to a newly finished flood control plan for the
river.
Water and soil preservation will also be carried out in those
areas, it said.
The plan also includes treatment of riverways and banks
in the middle reaches and enhancement of flood discharging capacity in the lower
reaches of the river.
The 1,000-kilometer Huaihe River originates in
central China's Henan Province and runs through Shandong, Anhui and Jiangsu
provinces. The areas along the river have a history of flooding and
droughts.
In 2003, heavy floods along the Huaihe River claimed at least
16 lives and caused more than 400,000 residents to be evacuated, with direct
economic losses of 18.17 billion yuan (2.2 billion U.S. dollars) in Anhui,
Jiangsu and Henan.
"The 2003 heavy floods exposed problems in the flood
control system of the river, such as the slowness in flood discharging and low
standards of works in treating flood and waterlogging," said Qian Min, director
of the Huaihe River Water Resources Commission.
The new plan will enable
the river to meet a biggest flood in 100 years from current less than 50 years,
according to Qian.
By the end of 2005, nine of the 19 key flood control
and water treatment projects for the river, set by the State Council in 1991,
had been completed at a cost of 23.9 billion yuan (3 billion U.S. dollars). The
rest are expected to complete next year.
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