A new round of upgrading has started in the Dongjiang-Shenzhen water supply project, a major facility designed to divert clean fresh water from Dongjiang River, a tributary of the Pearl River, to Shenzhen City of Guangdong Province, and eventually to Hong Kong.

Jiang Zunyu, director of water affairs bureau of Shenzhen City, said both Shenzhen and HK would no longer suffer from water shortages in hot summers upon completion of this round of upgrading, the second phase construction of the Dongjiang-Shenzhen water supply project.

Dongjiang-Shenzhen water supply project, whose construction began in 1997, is a major water supplying facility built in the eastern part of Shenzhen City, with exclusive investment and management by the same city. The project is also responsible for supplying fresh water to Hong Kong.

The first phase of the water supplying project, with an investment of 3.8 billion yuan (about US$470 million), was completed in 2001 and was capable of supplying 350 million cubic meters of water a year, effectively alleviating water shortages in Shenzhen and Hong Kong.

Tasks for the second phase construction of the water supplying project include upgrading the surface of roads connecting to the venue for water diversion from Dongjiang River, facilitating repairs of the water pipelines, construction of two new water pumps and adding a 7.68-km-long new water pipeline, according to the official.

With a budget of 550 million yuan (about US$67.82 million), the second phase upgrading will be finished in two years and will give to Shenzhen an additional 370 million cubic meters of water supplying capacity, bringing the annual water supplying capacity of the entire Dongjiang-Shenzhen water supply project to 720 million cubic meters.

By then, the Dongjiang-Shenzhen water supply project will also be capable of coping with exceedingly grave floods within 50 to 100 years.

(Xinhua News Agency February 15, 2006)