Central China's Hunan Province will spend more than 15.6 billion yuan (approximately US$1.88 billion) in harnessing the flood-ridden Dongting Lake, inside the province, from 2001 to 2005.
Sources from the provincial water conservancy administrative departments said that the investment will be used to prevent flooding of the lake, an important tributary of the Yangtze River.
The preventive measures include heightening and reinforcing the main embankments along the section of the Yangtze in Hunan and 11 major embankments of the Dongting Lake, dredging of riverways, upgrading and adjusting the existing flood drainage facilities on the Dongting Lake to control water levels so as to prevent major decreases in grain output when floods occur.
Flooding on the Dongting Lake occurs each summer and serious floods have caused significant damage to this central Chinese province.
When the projects are completed, the impact of flooding on the Dongting Lake will be greatly reduced by the year 2005, said a local official.
(Xinhua 01/04/2001)
