Eight conservation and control projects will be started by 2011 along China's longest river, the Yangtze, to improve water use and protect the ecology, a conservancy official said in Wuhan Tuesday.

The navigation capacity along the Yangtze River has greatly improved since the Three Gorges Reservoir retained water last year. [Sanxian (Three Gorges) Daily photo]

Cai Qihua, director of the Yangtze Water Resources Commission, announced the projects during the commission's annual work meeting. Some projects are already in progress.

The initiatives include strengthening embankments on the middle and lower reaches, building flood control projects at major tributaries and lakes, and controlling minor rivers and mountain torrents that pose threats to life, Cai said.

Other planned projects include reservoir and flood-control facilities, hydropower plants, soil erosion prevention schemes, water-quality monitoring networks and environmental protection facilities.

The Yangtze, China's longest river, stretches 6,300 kilometers.

It originates in northwest China's Qinghai Province and flows through 10 provincial areas before entering the East China Sea near Shanghai.

(Xinhua News Agency January 14, 2009)