On September 11, the Yunnan Provincial Committee of the Chinese
People's Political Consultative Conference held a meeting to
address water shortage problems in central Yunnan and put forward the construction plan
for a new water diversion project.
The plan, Longpan hydropower station water diversion project,
was selected from four proposals. The other options were a water
diversion project at Huangdeng Dam from the Lancang River, Benzilan
hydropower station project, and a multi-water source project.
The Longpan plan will build 478 kilometers of arterial canals
with a total 49 billion yuan (about US$6.5 billion) investment to
divert water from the Jinsha River. When finished, 3.42 billion
cubic meters of water will be transferred per year and 12.06
million people will benefit from this project.
The plan also clearly states that the project will do no harm to
the surrounding environment.
Tian Yunxiang, chairman of the Kunming Municipal Committee of
the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, says the
main function of the Longpan plan is to transfer water from Jinsha
River to Dianchi Lake and reserve it there.
This is a basic means to satisfy the water demands in central
Yunnan Province, especially in Kunming City, the capital.
Liao Hongzhi, vice commissioner of the Yunnan Provincial
Committee of the Chinese Democratic League, says about 900 million
cubic meters of water flows into Dianchi Lake every year, half of
which is vaporized. Filling the lake with fresh water from other
rivers is the only way to save the lake and improve its
environment.
Four modes of fund raising were suggested for the implementation
of the plan: investment by government, policy bank loan,
public bidding, or a combination of the previous three.
The central parts of Yunnan encompass more than 16.7 million
residents in 49 cities and counties, including Kunming, Dali, Yuxi
and Lijiang. The region occupies 39.5 percent of the total area of
the province, and is the core economic hub. This area is situated
in the watershed of four water systems: Jinsha River, Lancang
River, Honghe River and Zhujiang River; it faces 2.18 billion cubic
meters of water shortage per year.
(China.org.cn by Chen Lin, September 14, 2007)
