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Premier talks water conservation at meeting

By Mo Jingxi | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2019-11-18 20:54

Premier Li Keqiang urged the construction of major water projects to help increase investment, stabilize economic growth and add jobs as he presided over a meeting on the follow-up work of the South-to-North Water Diversion project in Beijing on Monday.

Li said the first phases of the middle and eastern routes of the project have played a significant role in supporting the water supplies for production and daily life as well as ecology in areas along the routes and directly benefited more than 100 million people.

The remarkable economic, social and ecological benefits have fully proved the decision made by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council is absolutely right, he said.

Meanwhile, he noted the shortage of water resources and uneven distribution still make up one of the bottlenecks that restrict China's economic and social development.

The persistent drought in some provinces in southern China this year also posed an urgent need to strengthen water conservancy construction and solve water scarcity caused by inadequate engineering, Li said.

Building more accessible routes to transfer water from the Yangtze River basin to areas of northern China will improve the country's ability to support economic and social development with water resources, he said.

Li said the construction of water conservancy projects and their support facilities should be the focus of current efforts to expand effective investment, as it will help improve the ability to prevent and mitigate natural disasters, consolidate the foundation of agriculture, boost the development of related industries and equipment, as well as create more jobs for rural migrant workers.

He urged related departments and local governments to speed up construction of projects in progress under the premise of quality assurance, and work quickly to launch a group of mature water projects and their support construction.

The premier also called on sectors to innovate the mechanisms concerning fundraising, construction, operation and management of major water projects.

Reforms on water pricing policies should be studied in order to promote water conservation while promoting the establishment of a reasonable reward system to attract greater participation of social capital in the construction and operation of water projects, he added.

Official statistics showed the middle route of the South-to-North Water Diversion project has transferred more than 25.5 billion cubic meters of water since its completion in 2014.

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