The Ministry of Water Resources recently held a press conference on "Progress and Achievements in Water Conservancy Infrastructure Construction in the First Three Quarters of 2023."

Vice Minister of Water Resources

Friends from the press, ladies and gentlemen, good morning! Welcome to this press conference, and thank you for your long-standing interest in and support for water conservancy work.

Since the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Water Resources has fully implemented the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, thoroughly implemented General Secretary Xi Jinping's water governance approach of "prioritizing water conservation, balancing spatial distribution, taking systematic approaches, and giving full play to the roles of both government and market" and his important expositions on water governance, earnestly implemented the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, and while making every effort to do a good job in flood control and flood fighting—in particular, effectively responding to the catastrophic basin-wide flood of the Haihe River "23·7"—accelerated the construction of water conservancy infrastructure. In the first three quarters, the number of newly started water conservancy projects, the investment secured and completed, and the number of people employed all achieved significant growth on top of the high base of the same period in 2022, playing an important role in promoting continuous improvement of people's livelihoods, continuously improving social expectations, and sustained economic recovery.

First, the number of water conservancy projects started achieved relatively large growth. From January to September, 24,900 water conservancy projects of various types were newly started nationwide, up 12.9 percent year on year; the total investment scale was 1.15 trillion yuan, up 8.9 percent year on year. Among them, 35 major water conservancy projects were started, including the Xiong'an main canal water supply project of the South-to-North Water Diversion Middle Route in Hebei, the Beibu Gulf Rim Guangxi water resources allocation project, the Jilin water network backbone project, and the Wenchaojian River regulation project in Beijing, and the national, regional, and provincial water network project systems are being accelerated.

Second, the investment secured and completed for water conservancy construction hit the highest record for the same period in history. From January to September, 1,075 billion yuan of investment was secured for water conservancy construction, and 860.1 billion yuan was completed, both hitting the highest record for the same period in history. Among them, 10 provinces—Guangdong, Shandong, Hebei, Hubei, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Hunan, Yunnan, and Fujian—completed more than 40 billion yuan of investment each, effectively playing a role in driving the economy.

Third, water conservancy project construction was comprehensively accelerated. Major projects under construction, such as the Yangtze-to-Hanjiang water diversion project of the South-to-North Water Diversion Middle Route, the Beibu Gulf Rim Guangdong water resources allocation project, the second phase of the Huaihe River sea-entering channel, and the Taihu Wusong River regulation project, were accelerated; the main works of the Datengxia Water Conservancy Hub Project were fully completed; the Shaanxi Han-to-Wei water diversion project, the second phase of the Gansu Taohui water supply project, and the Fujian Pingtan and Minjiang River Estuary water resources allocation project were completed and began to yield benefits. The construction and modernization of large and medium-sized irrigation districts were accelerated, the rural water supply project system was vigorously improved, the construction of municipal and county-level water networks was advanced in a coordinated manner, and every effort was made to open up the "last kilometer" of the national water network.

Fourth, the role of water conservancy construction in absorbing employment became more prominent. From January to September, water conservancy project construction absorbed 2.212 million employed people, up 5.7 percent year on year, and paid out 41.13 billion yuan in wages, up 37.1 percent year on year; among them, 1.754 million rural laborers were absorbed, up 2.8 percent year on year, and 30.61 billion yuan in wages was paid out, up 34.7 percent year on year. More people gained more labor remuneration from water conservancy construction, and water conservancy played a positive role in stabilizing employment and promoting income growth.

Next, the Ministry of Water Resources will thoroughly implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speeches and important instructions, effectively unify thinking and action with the CPC Central Committee's scientific judgment and decisions and arrangements on the current economic situation and economic work, make every effort to do a good job in water conservancy infrastructure construction in the fourth quarter, strive to start another batch of major water conservancy projects, accelerate the repair of flood-damaged water conservancy facilities and post-disaster reconstruction, and ensure that investment completed in water conservancy construction for the whole year exceeds last year's level; at the same time, plan ahead for next year's water conservancy infrastructure construction work, and contribute greater strength to promoting effective qualitative improvement and reasonable quantitative growth of the economy.