China successfully completes USD 80 bn water diversion project

China today successfully completed its USD 80 billion water diversion project, covering a distance of 1,200 kilometres, developed to address the capital's water woes.
It took 15 days for water to reach Beijing from its source -- the Hanjiang River, a tributary of the Yangtze River, China's largest waterway.
The delivery marks the completion of the middle route's first stage, construction of which began exactly 12 years ago.
It took eight years for engineers and workers to complete two 4,000-metre-long tunnels under the riverbed of the Yellow River, China's second largest.
In 2003 its project cost was estimated to be around USD 59 billion which spiraled to USD 80 billion by the end of its completion.

It evoked interest in India when the former NDA government had launched the Interlinking of rivers project in 2003.

The then Chairman of the Task Force on the Inter-Linking of Rivers and current Minster of Railways, Suresh Prabhu during his visit Beijing said India will study the project to understand how the Chinese planned to go about it.
The project was conceived by late Chinese leader Mao Zedong in 1952. The project was, however, delayed over the likely impact it may have had on environment as well as resettlement of people.
It was later approved by the State Council in December 2002, nearly after half a-century-of-debate.

"The project will have significant economic, social and environmental impacts," said E Jingping, chief of the State Council's South-to-North Water Diversion Project Commission Office.
Next year, about 800 million cubic meters of water will be sent to Beijing from the south.
With around 21 million population Beijing, on average consumes 3.6 billion cubic meters of water annually and the project will eventually deliver one billion cubic metres of water to the city.
The project will alleviate the pressure Beijing faces to meet demand, said Sun Guosheng, director of the project's Beijing office, but the project would not completely solve Beijing's water issues.

But the new waterway presents fresh challenges, such as the protection of water quality from unforeseen natural risks in the future, a state-run China Daily reported.
Work still needs to be done to ensure the livelihoods and employment of the 400,000 people displaced by the construction, including 345,000 people whose hometown was submerged as part of the massive Danjiangkou reservoir.
It is the second biggest water project undertaken by China after the Three Gorges dam regarded which is regarded as the world's biggest hydro power dam.