The flooding that has plagued many parts of China has delivered an important lesson about environmental protection. The country is implementing plans to conserve water and soil along the route of the natural gas pipeline from western China to the east. The whole project is estimated to cost 100 million Yuan (some US$12 million).
The three pipeline routes involved extend from east China's Anhui province to Jiangsu and Zhejiang, covering a total distance of 418 kilometers. The conservation plan aims to build 170,000 kilometers of fender and water drainage systems, plant 200 hectares of grassland and 110,000 trees, and restore 400 hectares of farmland. The cost of the work is expected to account for about 10 percent of the gas transportation project.
"The vegetation south of the Yangtze River is quite good and we have plenty of rainfall in the area. The loss of water and erosion of soil will certainly result if we don't pay enough attention to the problem," said Zeng Dalin, official of Ministry of Water Resources.
In the past, little was invested in water and soil conservation while China carried out its key projects. Now as people are becoming more and more conscious of the importance of environmental protection, the government is acting more vigorously and spending more money on such plans. The first half of this year alone, more than 60 plans of this kind have been examined and approved by the Ministry of Water Resources.
(cctv.com August 27, 2002)
