Construction on the first tunnel to cross the Songhua River, a key river in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, will begin in August this year.
The 11.5-kilometer tunnel, including a 1.5 kilometers underground section, will start at Jingwei Street on the southern banks of the river and end at the Limin Development Zone in the north.
The construction project, to be jointly built by a local community management committee and a Malaysian construction group, is expected to be completed in 2003.
A water conservancy project on the northern dike of the river will also be initiated along with the tunnel construction work, to improve the Songhua River's flood prevention and control capacity.
(Xinhua 04/25/2001)
