The thirsty land yearns for rain, and a super project to rewrite the map of water resources in Bashu is unfolding. The Long March Canal Diversion Project has officially started the preliminary work, using the powerful force of cross basin water transfer to divert the abundant water sources of Qingyi River and Dadu River to the southern and central parts of Sichuan, injecting strong water energy into the development of Chengdu and Chongqing.

Recently, Sichuan Water Resources Development Group released the bidding plan for the survey and design of the Sichuan section of the Long March Canal diversion project. The preliminary work of this provincial-level major water conservancy project with a total investment of 65.957 billion yuan has officially started, which will effectively alleviate the long-term water resource imbalance in southern and central Sichuan.

Large scale project

The Changzheng Canal is a first-class large-scale cross basin water transfer project, which is the core backbone project of Sichuan's "Five Horizontals and Six Verticals" water network, covering 25 counties in 6 cities and serving key development areas in southern and central Sichuan. The project adopts the dual water sources of Qingyi River and Dadu River as backup to ensure stable water supply, with a designed annual water intake of 2 billion cubic meters. The Sichuan section of the water transmission line has a total length of 1176.58 kilometers, with a high proportion of tunnels and aqueducts, making construction difficult. It is also equipped with multiple regulating reservoirs and pumping stations, forming a complete water diversion and storage system.

Accelerate the bidding process in the early stage

This survey and design bidding covers two core stages: project proposal and feasibility study, which will systematically complete key tasks such as engineering demonstration, geological survey, route optimization, and investment estimation. Sichuan Water Resources Development Group will merge two stages of bidding to enhance work continuity. It is expected to release an official announcement on September 30th to recruit high-quality design units nationwide. It is highly likely that state-owned enterprises and provincial-level design institutes in the industry will participate in bidding in the form of a consortium. Keywords: Sichuan, cross basin water transfer, water conservancy engineering

Empowering regional development

The industrial population in southern and central Sichuan is concentrated, and water resources have been developed to their maximum limit. After the completion of the Long March Canal, it will connect multiple major water conservancy projects in the province, achieve the interconnection and allocation of water resources in multiple watersheds, and fill the regional water shortage. The project can ensure urban and rural drinking water and agricultural irrigation, stabilize food security, and rely on hydropower resources to assist in the consumption of new energy and peak shaving of the power grid, providing hardcore water conservancy support for high-quality development in the Chengdu Chongqing region.Editor/Gong Ziwei