A key flood control project, the Huaiyuan-Hongze waterway designed to control floods along the Huaihe River, was completed recently in east China.

The 125-km waterway, starting in Huaiyuan County in Anhui Province and ending at the Hongze Lake area in neighboring Jiangsu Province, is believed to be one of China's longest manmade waterways.

Construction of the waterway began in 1991, when a serious flood occurred along the Huaihe River, one of China's longest rivers. Investment in the project totaled 2.5 billion yuan (US$300 million).

Experts say that because of the curving and narrow riverbed, the middle reaches of the Huaihe River used to face flood discharge difficulties in summer.

"The waterway will play an important role in flood control, thus helping protect 660,000 hectares of farmland, the Beijing-Shanghai railway and the coal mines on the southern bank of the Huaihe River," the experts

(People’s Daily 12/17/2000)