Braving chilly air, Chinese workers have been seizing the winter time reinforcing embankments along the middle reaches of the flood-prone Huaihe River in economically developed east China. The budget for the reinforcement project is 2.27 billion yuan (about US$284 million), which were approved by the National Development and Reform Commission and Chinese Ministry of Water Resources, said press release provided by Anhui Provincial Bureau of Water Resources.

 

The embankments to be reinforced will extend 546 km, including the northern embankments of the Huaihe River, northern embankments of Yinghe, Xifei, Wohe rivers, which are all tributaries of Huaihe at its middle reaches, as well as the southern embankments of Wohe River.

 

"We use two bulldozers to clear away trees and make things ready for locating new embankment bases," said Zhu Benchao, a senior official in charge of Fuyang section of the reinforcement program," we must seize all favorable chances and work harder to make sure task of construction with Fuyang section can be finished by the turn of the year."

 

The embankments at the middle reaches of the 1,000-km-long Huaihe River is designed with the mission of protecting 6.82 million residents, 724,000 hectares of farmland in Anhui and Jiangsu provinces, as well as major infrastructure such as Beijing-Shanghai and Beijing-Kowloon, both north-south rail trunk routes.

 

The reinforcement project is expected to be finished by the end of next year. Completion of this project will greatly improve flood control capabilities of the embankments, according to an official from Huaihe River Water Resources Commission.

 

Huaihe River, which originates from Tongbai Mountain in central China's Henan Province, flows eastwardly between Huanghe and Yangtze rivers. The line formed between Huaihe River and Qinling Mountains in west China serves as a watershed for climate changes in the country.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 8, 2006)