China will intensify efforts to harness the Weihe River, the biggest tributary of the Yellow River, as well as the tributary's drainage area in the years to come.

 

The State Council, China's highest governing body, has given a go-ahead to the plan regarding key projects for harnessing Weihe River Valley in the near future, inked by five Chinese ministries, the State Environmental Protection Administration, the State Forestry Administration, as well as Shaanxi, Gansu provinces and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, according to sources from the Environmental Protection Bureau of Shaanxi Province.

 

The plan was compiled in three years by specialists from relevant government departments and from the three regions of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia.

 

A total of 22.9 billion yuan (about US$2.82 billion) will be needed for implementation of the plan, of which 15.5 billion yuan will be covered by investment from the state coffers.

 

An official from the Shaanxi Provincial Environmental Protection bureau said most of the central government spending would go to construction or rebuilding of water control facilities on the Weihe River, most of which flows through Shaanxi.

 

These facilities will include works for mobilization and protection of water resources, recycling of sewage water, use of rainwater, flood control projects, as well as projects for water and soil conservation.

 

The State Council has asked Shaanxi to construct an efficient flood control and silt-reducing network in the Weihe River Valley in a decade so that the current problems that have been tormenting the Yellow River's biggest tributary, such as a shortage of water resources, the water pollution in the mainstream of Weihe River and its tributaries, water and soil erosion, as well as flood-prone features with key sections of the Weihe River will be addressed.

 

Weihe River, with a length of 818 and a total drainage area of 135,000 square km, originates from Ningxia, then flows southwardly through northern Gansu, and changes direction by flowing eastwardly to join the Yellow River, the country's second longest. 

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 10, 2006)