East China's Shandong Province plans to divert water from the Yellow River, the country's second longest, to a number of its water-deficient coastal cities, local officials said Friday.
Water from the Yellow river will be diverted directly through Songzhuang water locks in Changyi county to the coastal cities of Weifang, Qingdao, Yantai and Weihai.
A Shandong provincial official said that the Chinese government has approved their project proposal, which involves construction of a 322-kilometer channel to transport the water.
A total of 143 million cubic meters of water will be pumped from the Yellow River to these cities annually, the official noted.
Most of the water will be for use in these cities' industrial sectors with some for high-return farming.
The project is expected to cost 2.76 billion yuan (US$332.7 million), including 700 million yuan (US$84.3 million) in subsidies from the central government.
The channel will also be used to divert freshwater from the Yangtze River to the cities in years to come once China completes its scheduled project to divert water from the Yangtze River to Beijing and other northern areas through east China.
(Xinhua News Agency August 2, 2002)
