A final decision on the project, which has been under scrutiny for decades, will be made soon as experts warned the shortage of water in north China is becoming more acute.

A decision is also soon to be made on the pricing system for the diverted water.

Experts said the project should start as soon as possible before water scarcity starts to restrict the sustainable development of the national economy.

To soothe the worsening thirst in the Yellow-Huaihe-Haihe river plains, the most important grain producing areas in the north, Zhu Erming, top technological consultant of the Ministry of Water Resources, said: "The construction of the first phase of the canals' eastern and central stretches should start simultaneously within the next five years,'' -- the government's 10th Five-Year Plan period (2001-05).

Although Zhu's words were only a suggestion made in his latest report on the project for the decision-makers, it was the clearest timetable for the project's construction in 50 years of feasibility studies.

Zhu confirmed that the State Council "has required the ministry to submit an overall plan before next June.''

The project involves the building of canals that will divert water from three places on the upper, middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

The western stretches of the canals are still being studied.

The government will invest an estimated 130 billion to 150 billion yuan (US$15.7 billion to US$18.1 billion) in the first two phases of construction, which will include the middle and eastern stretches of the canals, which total 2,400-kilometers in length, Zhu said.

Beijing, Tianjin and many other cities and regions along the canals are expected to benefit from the project.

The canals are expected to take 38 billion to 48 billion cubic meters of water from the Yangtze River annually. About 30 to 35 billion cubic meters of water will be available for industries, urban areas and irrigation in north China when the canals are fully completed.

Such an amount, which accounts for 5 percent of the Yangtze's annual flow, is unlikely to affect the river's ecological balance. Nevertheless, the water will be enough to make up for the water shortage in the Yellow-Huaihe-Haihe river plains, experts working with Zhu said.

However, they warned that many users, particularly farmers, will not be able to afford the water supplied by the project. This means that they may continue to pump water from underground, which is causing the ground to subside, something the project was intended to put a stop to.

To settle the issue, Minister of Water Resources Wang Shucheng suggested that two types of water pricing should be adopted. Wang was confident that "such a water pricing mechanism will not only ease the worsening water shortage in the north but also press all of China's water users to adopt efficient consumption patterns.''

(China Daily 11/07/2000)