Fujian starts supplying water to Kinmen

FUZHOU -- A water pipeline connecting Chinese mainland coastal province of Fujian to Kinmen went into operation on Sunday, delivering water from Fujian's Jinjiang River to alleviate water shortages in Kinmen.

The source of the water-diversion project is Longhu Lake in Jinjiang City, the second largest lake in Fujian.

The 28-km pipeline will provide 34,000 cubic meters of water daily to Kinmen, a small island attached to Taiwan but very near the mainland.

The investment totals 388 million yuan (about 57 million US dollars) and the water price has been set at 9.86 new Taiwan dollars (around 0.33 US dollars) per cubic meter.

The smooth operation of the water supplying project concerning Kinmen people's welfare is a great event in the history of Kinmen's development as well as the cross-Strait relations, Liu Jieyi, head of the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said at a ceremony held in Jinjiang.

Tang Dengjie, governor of Fujian, said the project carried the hope of people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait for peaceful reunification, and common aspiration for a better life.

Tang said the Fujian government would strengthen management to ensure a safe and quality water supply to Kinmen residents.

In 1995, Kinmen authorities put forward the proposal to divert water from Fujian. The mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits and Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation in June 2013 publicized a consensus on solving the water problem.