A model designed to shed light on flood control efforts on the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, China's longest, will start construction in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, late this month.

An official from the Yangtze River Water Resources Committee said that the model is intended to provide a scientific basis for planning, construction and decision-making on flood control on the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze on completion of the Three Gorges Project which is now being built swiftly at the middle reaches of the mighty river.

"The projected model will contain the river way, including lakes and tributaries at the middle and lower reaches, and changes of flood diversion zones, as well as development of floods," said the official. "Researchers will make decisions after they have done repeated experiments within the model about whether to divert the floodwater or to keep re-enforcing the embankments."

The model will cost 170 million yuan (US$20.48 million) and will be the largest water conservancy scientific research project the country has ever built since the founding of New China in October 1949.

On completion, the model, which will be situated near the Dunkou economic development zone of Wuhan, can also be turned into a base for popularizing the knowledge of science among young people, said the official.

(Xinhua News Agency November 26, 2003)