Work on a water transfer project is expected to begin soon in Shandong Province to move Yellow River water annually to the cities of Qingdao, Yantai and Weihai.

Provincial planning committee sources say that the 143 million cubic meters of water to be annually involved will be for individual and industrial usage, with a part of it for agriculture.

The project is expected to cost 2.76 billion yuan (US$333.7 million), with the province providing 1.37 billion yuan (US$165 million); the central government, 100 million yuan (US$12 million); and the State Development Bank, 690 million yuan (US$83 million).

Seven new pump stations will be built along the line as well as water gate repairs, power stations, and communications equipment added.

The water is expected to provide a great deal of relief to the people, the businesses, and the farmers of Shandong's most developed cities, where water shortages have severely hampered economic development.

The Yellow River is China's second longest, after the Yangtze. It starts in Qinghai Province and flows through Gansu, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia and Henan provinces and autonomous regions before reaching Shandong from where it flows into the Bohai Sea.

(China Daily July 29, 2002)