Focus

Is water pipeline project merely a pipe dream?

By Jiang Xueqing and Shao Wei (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-11-29 07:58

Pilot project

Feasibility studies show seawater transfer costs 4.2 yuan per cu m, while desalination costs 4 yuan. Hongyuan plans to sell desalinated water to large enterprises for 10 yuan a ton. Although some energy giants, such as Shenhua Group, have accepted the price with written promises, they can still renege as the promises are not legally binding.

If the transfer project in Inner Mongolia does succeed, however, it will set a good example for Xinjiang, which has similar problems and economic development goals.

The company insider told China Daily that a pilot station will be built in an Inner Mongolian desert that has roughly the same geological and climate conditions as further west.

Li Xin'e, deputy director of Xin-jiang government's development and research center, attended a seminar on seawater transfer in Xilin Gol in April.

After learning about the league's experiences, she said her region will also use seawater to develop its salt chemical industry, as well as use it to refill shrinking or dried lakes.

When seawater transfer was first proposed in 1990s by professors Chen Changli and Huo Youguang, "they were mainly thinking about improving ecological environment of the region - but we care more about economic development", said Zhao, head of the Xilin Gol leading group.

"Only when we solve development problems will ecology become our concern," he added.