The western wing of the project to divert water from southern China to northern China has been approved by a panel of scientists in Xining, Qinghai. This marks that the project will soon enter the period of experimental launch.
The project plan is revised to lower the altitude of the water diversion canal and its engineering difficulty. Advanced technology will be adopted to overcome key engineering problems, the investment will be cut and the engineering work will be accelerated. The fund of the project will be raised from the benefits of water conservancy schemes and hydro-electrical power generation schemes in a mutually complemented way, the projects being built in the process of building the major water diversion project.
At the project approval meeting, experts of the State Council Restructuring Office gave an account of the background of the project, strategic position, the original blueprint and the revised plan and answered questions raised by the panel of scientists.
(www.cenews.com.cn September 2, 2002)
