THE Shenzhen River that borders Hong Kong and China will be partially straightened when two artificial channels are built to remove flood-prone sections.
North District officials said yesterday work on the $300 million cement channels at two meandering sections of the river would begin next week in a bid to prevent flooding on both banks. The scheme to straighten the two sections, which cover about three kilometres, is the first stage in a major flood-prevention project involving both the Hong Kong and Shenzhen governments.
Bends in the river at Liu Pok and Lok Ma Chau will be eliminated and replaced by two wider and deeper but shorter and straighter cement channels.
North District Officer Timothy Tong Hin-ming said the first phase, which would be completed by May 1997, would improve water flow and alleviate the serious flooding which had plagued areas on both sides of the border.
In 1993 typhoons caused extensive flooding in the region and last July heavy rain caused chaos when hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes after Shenzhen authorities released water from the Pingshan reservoir into the Shenzhen River.
Fung Chi-keung, from Tak Yuet Lau on the banks of the river, yesterday said serious flooding had forced his village of mostly elderly people to flee to higher ground on a number of occasions in the past two years.
