Flood control facilities rebuilt after disasters

China has seen remarkable progress in rebuilding flood control facilities devastated by floods last year and in strengthening flood control capabilities there, thanks to the issuance of an additional 1 trillion yuan ($139 billion) of government bonds for the work, officials said.

The bonds were issued in the fourth quarter last year, after devastating floods hit the Haihe River Basin, where Beijing is located, and the Songhua River Basin in Northeast China during flood season last year.

Chen Min, vice-minister of water resources, said the ministry, together with the National Development and Reform Commission, has rolled out a series of measures to tap into the potential of the bonds in accelerating the construction of water resource management projects, he said.

Based on consultation with other relevant departments, the commission made public three slates of projects that can be supported by the bonds, he said.

It then joined hands with the ministry to issue a regulation that covers all procedures in the management of these projects, including work safety control and the use of funds.

He said measures have been taken to ensure that different phases of the projects can be completed as scheduled.

The efforts have seen 29.3 billion yuan invested in 1,488 projects across the country, he added.

“Generally, the construction of these projects runs smoothly,” the vice-minister said.

Yuan Da, deputy secretary-general of the commission, said that more than half of the 1 trillion yuan has been allocated to water resources management, the top priority in the post-disaster work supported by the bonds.

He said the funds will support 12 types of projects, including the construction of reservoirs, water courses, dikes and flood storage basins.

Yao Wenguang, director of the ministry’s department of flood and drought disaster prevention, said there has been significant progress in restoring those flood-damaged water resources management projects.

Restoration of 4,558 out of the 5,542 key flood-damaged projects has been accomplished, he said.

“We believe that all of them will be completed as of the end of June,” he noted.

He said the ministry plans to roll out inspections to key flood-damaged projects in the Haihe and Songhua basins in April.

The inspections “aim to unearth problems in a timely manner and coordinate efforts to address them to enhance the quality of the rebuilding and ensure that all projects can be implemented as scheduled,” he said.