China's South-to-North Water Diversion Project has not only transferred water from the Yangtze River to alleviate water scarcity in the arid northern regions, but has also promoted the integrated development of the southern and northern areas through enhanced cooperation.
At present, Beijing, central China's Henan, and Hubei provinces have formed a bond through water, supporting the development in the Danjiangkou Reservoir area, a key part of South-to-North Water Diversion Project.
As the winter heating season officially began on Dec 5, residents of Shiyan City in Hubei Province are now benefiting from upgraded heating facilities funded by Beijing Jingneng Power Co., Ltd.
Shiyan City had two thermal power companies in the past, but their equipment was outdated, resulted in limited heating capacity and low environmental protection standards.
In 2018, Beijing Jingneng Power Co., Ltd., invested in and built the Jingneng Shiyan Thermal Power Plant, which has since achieved an annual power generation capacity of 5.25 billion kilowatt-hours.
"Previously, small boilers were of relatively poor quality and had low reliability. Additionally, they produced large amounts of coal ash, which caused severe environmental impacts in the local area. Since our project started operations, it has reduced emissions annually by approximately 8,500 tons of nitrogen oxides, over 9,000 tons of sulfur dioxide, and more than 5,000 tons of particulate matter," said Wang Huimin, Party secretary of Shiyan Thermal Power Plant of Beijing Jingneng Power Co., Ltd.
Another example of the integrated cooperation is a logistic hub established by a Beijing-based company and Dengzhou City in Henan Province in 2023.
At present, the logistic hub hosts 16 logistics companies, with daily inbound and outbound express shipments exceeding 100,000 orders. This has significantly strengthened the local logistics supply chain, created over 600 jobs, and had a remarkable impact on both primary and secondary industries.
Wang Junfeng's company, Jingu Agricultural Products Supply Chain Co., Ltd., has greatly benefited from the logistic hub.
The high-quality storage and logistics facilities have ensured the quality of his commercial eggs while significantly reducing storage and logistics costs compared to before.
"Previously, our annual e-commerce sales were around 6 million yuan (about 826,500 U.S. dollars). However, so far this year, our e-commerce sales have exceeded 30 million yuan (about 4.1 million U.S. dollars)," said Wang.
"Over the past 10 years, leveraging Beijing's strengths in technology, education, healthcare, and markets, combined with the industrial and resource advantages of Henan and Hubei, a number of enterprises and projects have been guided to settle in the water source areas. So far, a total of 1,232 targeted collaboration projects have been implemented," said Shao Mingyang, head of the Cooperation Division at the Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission.
China's South-to-North Water Diversion Project has three routes. The middle route, which is the most prominent one, begins at the Danjiangkou Reservoir in Hubei Province in central China and runs across Henan and Hebei before reaching Beijing and Tianjin.
The eastern route has transferred water from east China's Jiangsu Province to areas including Tianjin and Shandong. The western route is still in the planning stage.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the comprehensive operation of the two routes, which have brought about huge economic, social and ecological benefits over the past decade. The first phase of the mega project started supplying water in December 2014.
China's mega water diversion project promotes integrated development
