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A deepened waterway at the Yangtze River Mouth will bring a new leap in economic development in the Yangtze River delta and the areas along the river, said sources with Chinese Ministry of Communications here recently.

The first-phase of China's largest waterway-dredging project since 1949 passed an official appraisal recently, and the depth of the waterway at the Yangtze River Mouth has increased from seven to 8.5 meters.

To improve the shipping conditions at the mouth of China's largest river, the central government plans to invest 12 billion yuan (about 1.45 billion US dollars) to clear the silt build-up at the river mouth and deepen the channel.

The ultimate goal of the project is to lower the depth at the mouth to 12.5 meters to allow 100,000-ton or heavier ships to enter the Shanghai harbor.

The project will help build Shanghai into a world economic center and spur on development in the Yangtze River delta and areas along the river.

The first phase project started in January 1998, with a total cost of 3.1 billion yuan (373.49 million dollars) to reduce silt and upgrade the one-way route into a two-way channel.

The deepened waterway can now handle up to 76 ships every day, and the ship speed can increase from eight to 10-12 sea miles per hour.

Approved by the State Council, the second phase of construction, planned to take three years, has just begun. In that time, the depth of the shipping channel there is expected to increase from 8.5 to 10 meters and the width at the bottom is to expand from 300 meters to 350-400 meters.