The central government has invested 178.6 billion yuan (US$22 billion) over the previous five years in water conservation projects to fight against drought and flooding, strengthen reservoirs and tackle shortages in drinking water for animals and human beings, said Minister of Water Resources Wang Shucheng.

"Many of the planned projects have been completed and they have passed careful examination by the State Council," Wang said at the national water resources conference held here over the weekend.

Apart from the multi-billion-dollar investment in infrastructure, Wang said the government has earmarked about another 30 billion yuan (US$3.6 billion) in treasury bonds for the strengthening and extension of the Yangtze River's embankments.

Embankment improvement projects in Jiangxi, Anhui, Hunan, and Hubei provinces were completed by the end of last year. The work began four years ago, following disastrous floods along the middle and lower reaches of the river. The 3,500-kilometre new embankments along the middle and lower Yangtze are expected to be a remarkably effective anti-flood measure.

The floods of 1998 claimed more than 1,000 lives and caused economic loss of billions of yuan.

Wang said the water level of the Yangtze in the summer of 2002 almost equaled that of 1998, but no disaster occurred thanks to the solid new embankments.

"We employed many new technologies, materials and techniques in the construction, with high standards and lower costs to ensure high quality," said Li Shiren, general engineer from the General Construction Command Department.

The project will also bring great economic and ecological benefits to vast areas along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River

"A better solution to the three biggest problems in water conservation in China, which are flooding, water shortages and water pollution, will help the country build a well-off society," he added.

(China Daily January 6, 2003)