The World Bank has agreed to finance a project that will improve
export opportunities for producers in poor regions of southern
China by improving the navigability of the major east-west river
and other waterways, and use the water flow to produce energy to
meet growing demand in Guangdong Province and the Guangxi Zhuang
Autonomous Region.
The Fourth Inland Waterways Project, financed in part by a US$91
million loan, is an element of the World Bank's assistance program
to China.
Says Graham Smith, who leads the World Bank infrastructure team
in China, "The project is expected to benefit people who use this
waterway to transport raw materials and other goods from rural
areas to the Pearl River Delta area, including people from the poor
areas that are often the source of coal, sand and gravel, timber
and other building materials being transported on the river. It
will also ease congestion on the competing railway routes for
people in surrounding areas."
In Guangxi, the project will allow navigation of large vessels
between the cities of Baise and Nanning on the Youjiang River and
generate electricity through the construction of the Naji Dam. In
Guangdong, it will improve navigation conditions on the Beijiang
and Lianjiang rivers in the hilly northern part of the province,
and generate electricity through the construction of the Xiniu Dam.
Both regions currently face shortages of electric power.
The average per capita income in Baise Prefecture of rural
western Guangxi is about US$500. In the Lianjiang River valley it
is about US$400, well below the provincial average in each
case.
In Guangdong, the project also includes widening and deepening a
waterway crossing the Pearl River Delta. This will allow larger
ships and barges to ply safely between the rural southwestern part
of the province and the industrialized Shenzhen/Zhuhai/Hong Kong
area.
The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)
US$91 million variable-spread loan has a 20-year maturity and a
five-year grace period.
(China.org.cn March 29, 2004)