China has built world's largest water conservancy infrastructure system: minister

(ECNS) -- Since the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan, China's water conservancy infrastructure construction has made new progress, said China's Minister of Water Resources Li Guoying on Monday at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office.

Li said by the end of 2024, China had built 95,000 reservoirs, 200 large and medium-scale water diversion projects, 6,924 large and medium-scale irrigation districts, and 318,000 kilometers of levees, forming the world's largest, most comprehensive, and most beneficial water conservancy infrastructure system.

According to Li, in 2022, annual investment in water conservancy construction exceeded 1 trillion yuan (about $140.18 billion) for the first time, and it has set new records for three consecutive years. In 2024, investment in water conservancy construction reached 1.3529 trillion yuan, and the total investment for the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025) is expected to exceed 5.4 trillion yuan, 1.6 times that of the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020).

Since the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan, 172 major water conservancy projects have been launched. (By Gong Weiwei)