Military

DATE=02/20/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=CHINA/WATER TRANSFER - L ONLY

NUMBER=2-299832

BYLINE=LETA HONG FINCHER

DATELINE=BEIJING

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: China says a multi-billion dollar project to pump water from the

country's south to its north will relieve an intensifying water

shortage. Despite fears that the plan will damage the environment and

waste money, officials insist the project is necessary for China's

long-term economic health. V-O-A Correspondent Leta Hong Fincher

reports from Beijing.

TEXT: China's plan to transfer water from the south to the parched north

is the largest such project in the world, and is expected to take 50

years to complete. The ambitious idea was first conceived in 1952 under

Chairman Mao Zedong after he founded Communist China, but construction

on the project only began last December.

/// DU ACT IN CHINESE, EST. THEN FADE ///

Du Ying, an official in charge of China's rural economic development,

told a news conference in Beijing Wednesday that the water transfer

project is crucial to the country's future economic growth, and will be

a very effective way to relieve acute water shortages in China's north.

Mr. Du says the project will channel water along three major routes from

the largest rivers in China's south, including the Yangzi and Yellow

Rivers, to northern cities such as Beijing.

/// ZHANG ACT IN CHINESE, EST. THEN FADE ///

Zhang Guoliang, head of the project's planning at the Ministry of Water

Resources, tells reporters that serious exploitation of natural

resources and China's rapidly growing population have drained water

supplies in the north.

He says pumping stations will transfer 40-billion cubic meters of water

each year from the south to 39 cities and hundreds of towns in the

north, at a cost of 15-billion dollars for the first phase of the

project alone.

Critics charge that the gigantic project could damage China's

ecosystems, destroy fish in the country's rivers, and cause even more

water pollution. Some are worried about social tensions surrounding the

forced relocation of 300-thousand farmers who live along the middle

route of the project.

But officials dismiss these and other concerns, arguing that the project

will benefit at least 50-million people by the end of the decade.

(Signed)

NEB / LHF / BK