New projects are busy with the start of construction, and major water conservancy projects are "running"

Beijing, September 4th (Xinhua) - The Economic Reference Daily published an article on September 4th titled "New Project Construction Busy, Major Water Conservancy Projects" Running ". The article states that on September 2nd, with the last unit officially put into operation for power generation, the main project of the Datongxia Water Conservancy Hub, which took 9 years to construct and had a total investment of over 35.7 billion yuan, was completed four months ahead of schedule, and all units were officially put into operation. As an important backbone project of the national water network, the Datongxia Water Conservancy Hub has significant comprehensive benefits in flood control, navigation, power generation, water resource allocation, irrigation, and other aspects.

In the first seven months of this year, 26 major water conservancy projects in China started construction, with a total investment of 620.4 billion yuan in water conservancy construction, all better than the same period last year. The reporter learned that in the third quarter, relevant departments will make greater efforts to strive for local government special bonds, promote the feasibility study approval of major water conservancy projects planned to start in the third quarter, and accelerate the progress of project construction.

The Datongxia Water Control Project is located in the Qianjiang River reach of Guiping City, Guangxi. It was started in 2014 and is a key control project in the the Pearl River basin. It has built the largest water ecological protection project system of domestic water conservancy projects. The relevant person in charge of Datongxia Company introduced to the reporter that the Datongxia Water Conservancy Hub has significant comprehensive benefits. In terms of flood control, the joint operation with the reservoir group in the basin can raise the flood control standard of key flood protection objects in the the Pearl River Delta from 50 year return period to 100 to 200 year return period; In terms of shipping, the navigation of Qianjiang River will be increased from 300 tons to 3000 tons, and the key nodes of the Pearl River golden waterway will be opened; In terms of power generation, the total installed capacity is 1.6 million kilowatts, with a designed annual power generation of 6.055 billion kilowatt hours, making it the main power station of Guangxi power grid.

Accelerate the progress of ongoing projects and accelerate the start of new projects. The Yellow River Guxian Water Conservancy Hub Project, which has been included in the list of 172 and 150 major water conservancy projects determined by the State Council, as well as 102 major projects in the national "14th Five Year Plan" outline, has recently received approval from the environmental impact assessment, laying an important foundation for early commencement of construction. The reporter learned from the Ministry of Water Resources that after the completion of the project, it can effectively solve prominent problems such as the incomplete flood control engineering system in the Yellow River Basin, insufficient follow-up power for water and sediment regulation in the Xiaolangdi Reservoir, and insufficient ability to coordinate and allocate water resources. It plays an irreplaceable role in ensuring that the downstream embankments of the Yellow River are not breached, the riverbed is not raised, and the river flows continuously, and maintaining the healthy life of the Yellow River.

Data shows that in the first half of this year, there were 17600 newly started water conservancy projects in China, an increase of 3707 compared to the same period last year. Among them, there were 1095 projects with an investment scale exceeding 100 million yuan. 24 major projects, including Jilin Water Network Backbone Project, Hebei Xiong'an Canal, and Fujian Jinmen Water Supply, have started construction on schedule, with the highest number of new major water conservancy projects in history during the same period. From January to July, 26 major water conservancy projects started construction, which was better than the same period last year.

Major water conservancy projects are the "breakwater" for improving the national water network and the "accelerator" for economic growth. According to the Ministry of Water Resources, for every 100 billion yuan invested in major water conservancy projects, it can drive a GDP growth of 0.15 percentage points.

Last year, China's investment in water conservancy construction exceeded one trillion yuan for the first time. This year, investment in water conservancy engineering construction has further accelerated. From January to July, the country completed a water conservancy construction investment of 620.4 billion yuan, higher than the same period last year.

Around the annual target tasks, the construction of water conservancy infrastructure will also be accelerated. The reporter learned from the recent water conservancy infrastructure construction scheduling meeting that the Ministry of Water Resources will promote the feasibility study approval of major water conservancy projects planned to start construction in the third quarter to ensure timely commencement of construction. Make greater efforts to obtain local government special bonds and accelerate the progress of engineering construction.

According to the plan, this year's water conservancy construction will focus on networking, supplementing the network, and strengthening the chain, accelerating the construction of the national water network, and focusing on improving the efficiency of water conservancy infrastructure network. Among them, in accordance with the overall layout of the national water network, we will orderly promote the planning and construction of regional water networks, and advance the preliminary work of major water diversion projects such as Jilin Dashui Network, Gansu Bailong River Diversion, Qinghai Yellow River Diversion to Jining, and Sichuan Dashui to Minjiang; Accelerate the construction of key water source projects such as Kaihua in Zhejiang, Baise in Fujian, and Fengshan in Guizhou, deepen the preliminary demonstration of projects such as Qingshui River in Yunnan, Shilong in Guizhou, and Jiaoyan in Shaanxi, and increase the reserve and regulation capacity of regional water resources.

However, industry insiders also pointed out that the promotion of water conservancy engineering construction still faces difficulties in financing and other issues. Luo Huanjie, Senior Researcher at Zhixin Investment Research Institute, stated that due to the characteristics of large investment scale, long construction and operation cycle, and high technical requirements of water conservancy projects, especially major water conservancy projects, and the fact that water supply is a public welfare enterprise, the overall low price weakens the profitability of water conservancy projects, and social capital is unwilling to enter. To this end, relevant departments have issued relevant policies such as the Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Development of Cooperation Models between Government and Social Capital in Water Conservancy Infrastructure, encouraging social capital to actively participate.

"Last year, the national investment in water conservancy construction utilized local government special bonds worth 203.6 billion yuan, financial credit, and social capital worth 302.4 billion yuan, effectively ensuring the funding needs for large-scale water conservancy construction. The scale, intensity, investment, and attraction of financial and social capital for water conservancy infrastructure construction have all set new records since the founding of China." said Luo Huanjie.

"The national water network project has strong public welfare, but also has a certain degree of operational nature, so it is necessary to fully leverage the various roles of government investment and market financing, state-owned capital and private capital." The National Development and Reform Commission revealed at a press conference of the State Council Information Office that the next step will be to deepen the reform of the investment and financing system, implement water pricing standards and fee systems, expand the scale of equity and debt financing, and promote the acceleration of water network project construction through market-oriented reform.