Construction of a huge aqueduct, the largest of its kind in China and a key part of the country's south-to-north water diversion project, kicked off yesterday in Baoding, Hebei Province.

"Work on the 2,300-metre long aqueduct, the largest of its type China has ever built, has further pushed the Beijing-Shijiazhuang section onto the fast track," Liu Jie, an official with the construction and management bureau of the trunk water delivery canal of the middle line for the south-to-north water diversion project, said.

"Within a month, ground has twice been broken for such sub-projects along the Beijing-Shijiazhuang section." Two weeks ago, workers began digging a culvert, also part of the middle line, along the western section of the Fourth Ring Road in Beijing.

Involving about 880 million yuan (US$106 million), the bridge-like aqueduct, designed to carry the final section of the canal over low ground, is scheduled to be built over the next three years.

As terminal of the middle line, the 307-kilometre long Beijing-Shijiazhuang section is to link four reservoirs in Hebei with Beijing as an emergency water supply channel to help ease Beijing's water shortage.

Six key water control works including huge inverted siphons and water delivery tunnels have been under construction since December 2003 when work started along the section.

Before completion of the entire middle line, scheduled for 2010, the section will be capable of carrying at least 400 million cubic metres of water per year from the Gangnan, Huangbizhuang, Yukuai and Xidayang reservoirs in Hebei to Beijing to ensure the capital's water supply.

Work on some other key projects of the middle line, including a tunnel through the river bed of the Yellow River near Zhengzhou, capital of Henan Province, are also planned to be started before the end of this year.

The south-to-north water diversion project consists of three south-to-north canals, each running more than 1,000 kilometres across the eastern, middle and western parts of the country.

The three lines are designed to divert water from the upper, middle and lower reaches of the water-rich Yangtze River into the country's drought-prone north.

Taking water from the Danjiangkou Reservoir in Central China's Hubei Province, the middle line will pass through Hubei, Henan and Hebei provinces to Zhengzhou, Shijiazhuang, Beijing and Tianjin - North China's key cities facing worsening water shortages.

By 2010, people in Beijing and Tianjin - terminals of the line - will be able to use fresh water taken from the Yangtze River and carried along the 1,427-kilometre long middle line canal.

The eastern line is designed to transfer water from East China's Jiangsu Province along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal to Tianjin.

Specific details about the western line are yet to be finalized.

To be built in three phases, section by section, the three canals will link up the country's four major rivers - the Yangtze River, Yellow River, Huaihe River and Haihe River.

(China Daily June 14, 2005)