China To Divert Flows Of Its Rivers

Retrieved from: www.english.ruvr.ru

“This year, China will spend over 10 billion U.S. dollars to divert the flows of its rivers in the direction of the arid areas in its north. This was announced by E Jingping, head of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project commissioned by the State Council. It must be said in the past few years that China has spent about 22 billion U.S. dollars on this project, which has been compared to the Great Wall of China in grandiosity.

Late Chairman Mao Zedong first put forward the idea of the river diversion project in 1951. At the time, he said that there was ample water in the south but little in the north. It would be helpful if the south lent some water to the north. The Water Resources Ministry took the Chinese leader’s idea as a guideline for action and embarked on a plan to implement it. However, some time later, the Chinese leaders shifted priorities to other projects. As a result, the process dragged on for years. Only in 2002, after years-long droughts, the plan was adopted. It provided for the construction of canals running along Western, Central and Eastern routes.

As the year 2010 approached, it became clear that the project was far from completion. The Central route which will be completed in 2014, while the Eastern route in 2013. The work on the Western route which involves building massive dams and tunnels has not started yet. South-East Asian countries flatly oppose the diversion of the water from the River Mekong, whose headstreams are located in China. The reason the project has been put on hold is the delay in resettling 330,000 people who live along the Central route.”

Read more: The Voice Of Russia