On the morning of 16 July the Wei River water control project in Shaanxi Province began impounding, marking its move from construction into operation.
The project
The Wei River project is one of the major water conservancy works begun under the 2021–2025 plan, with a total storage capacity of 1.26 billion cubic metres, a designed annual supply of 530 million cubic metres and 240 MW of generating capacity. It represents an investment of HLY 18.7 billion; work started in March 2021 and the main structure took five years and four months to complete.
Benefits
Once complete the project will irrigate 870,000 mu, raising the irrigation guarantee rate in central and southern Shaanxi from 65 per cent to 90 per cent; improve drinking water for 400,000 rural residents along the route; and generate an average of 780 million kWh a year. It also raises downstream flood protection from a one-in-twenty-year to a one-in-fifty-year standard.
Resettlement
The project required the resettlement of 12,600 people and seventeen resettlement sites were built. A Shaanxi government official said four schools and nine clinics have been provided in the resettlement areas, each relocated resident has at least 1.2 mu of farmland, and industrial support funds are being used to develop specialty crops and rural tourism.