Central China’s Hubei Province will spend 7.87 billion yuan (about 948 million U.S. dollars) to reinforce the embankments along the main course of the Yangtze River, the country’s longest river, in a project which started in July and runs through February 2003.
The money will be used to finance 26 projects related to the reinforcement of the embankments, said Guo Zhigao, deputy director of Hubei Provincial Administration for Riverways and Embankments.
According to Guo, Hubei has had plans to carry out 18 embankment construction projects and works in flood discharging zones since late 2000. By July this year, workers had reinforced 411 km of embankments, accounting for 74 percent of the pre-set task, and placed 950,000 cubic meters of earth and stone, completing 87 percent of the pre-set goal.
The embankments have been playing a vital role in keeping flood water from the Yangtze River from inundating cities near both banks of the river during the summer flood season.
(Xinhua News Agency 08/31/2001)
