The Chinese government will invest some 38 billion yuan (US$4.6
billion) in flood control projects along the Huaihe River in the
coming five years to better contain the flood-prone river.
Half of the investment will be spent in Anhui
Province alone, where most of the river runs, local official
sources said.
The construction of dozens of water control projects, which were
once deserted in the 1950s because of financial difficulty, will
also be resumed in provinces along the river.
The new investment plan includes the construction of
waterlogging prevention projects, the relocation of people living
in water diversion areas and the drainage of the mainstream and
tributaries.
Wang Shucheng, minister of water resources, said that the
country will transfer its flood control focus to the Huaihe River
as the embankment construction along the Yangtze and Yellow rivers
has met the designed requirements this year.
Official figures show the heavy floods along the Huaihe River
this summer claimed at least 16 lives and caused 18.17 billion yuan
(US$2.2 billion) of direct economic losses in Anhui, Jiangsu and
Henan provinces.
The Huaihe River is notorious for its frequent floods with 300
disastrous floods recorded over the past five centuries,
endangering the lives of local people in the river valley. The area
now produces 18 percent of the country's food grain and 15 percent
of coal.
The 1,000-km Huaihe River flows through four central and eastern
Chinese provinces, namely Henan, Anhui, Shandong and Jiangsu, and
is located exactly between the country's other two major rivers,
the Yangtze and the Yellow rivers.
(Xinhua News Agency October 12, 2003)