Search China Travel News:

Vice-Minister of Water Resources Zhang Jiyao told a ceremony celebrating the completion of work to reinforce dykes on the Yangtze River that the central government "attaches great importance" to the project, China Daily reported.

The local government in Jiujiang has spent four years completing construction work to reinforce dykes in the Jiujiang section of the Yangtze River in East China's Jiangxi Province.

The government increased its investment in flood-prevention projects after 1998 and reinforcement construction has made great achievements since then, the paper said.

China is a country prone to flooding. Since the big flood of 1998, China has invested nearly 30 billion yuan (US$3.61 billion) in strengthening the Yangtze's dykes.

"We employed many new technologies, materials and techniques in the construction with high standards and lower costs to ensure the high quality," said Li Shiren, the general engineer from the General Construction Command Department.

"Though the project is completed, we still need to continue to maintain the dykes," Li said.

The project will also bring great economic and ecological benefits to vast areas along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

The 121-kilometre-long major levees in Jiujiang now present a new appearance to the world. The Yangtze River, which runs along one side of the dykes, is in great harmony with the green grass and trees on the other side.

In the wake of the 1998 disaster, the central government ordered a massive programme of anti-flood reinforcements along the Yangtze River. The reinforcement of the Jiujiang dykes is the first one completed.