China to bust Yangtze River chokepoint with US$11 billion ‘water staircase’ project
New mega locks will double freight capacity at the world’s largest dam, linking China’s inland industrial hubs to coastal ports with a feat of complex engineering
Eyeing massive new shipping facilities near the Three Gorges dam, China has formally begun construction on an ambitious project to enable the passage of larger vessels and streamline logistics along the nation’s most critical waterway.
The centrepiece of the planned 77.2 billion yuan (US$11.4 billion) infrastructure buildout, which looks to span nearly a decade, is a series of mega ship locks – colossal structures also known as “water elevators” or “water staircases” that are built into a dam.
Monday’s groundbreaking ceremony marked the next step in an effort to improve links between several megalopolises as the world’s second-biggest economy seeks to shore up internal connectivity to sustain growth.
The project is considered the biggest infrastructure undertaking along the Yangtze in decades, eclipsing the scale of previous works since the river was dammed in 1997 for flood control and hydropower. Its urgency stems from surging shipping demand that has overwhelmed existing facilities built in 2003.
The Three Gorges Dam has significantly improved Yangtze’s navigation conditions, spurring a concentration of industrial clusters along the 6,300km (3,915-mile) waterway. Shipping volume has steadily climbed between dominant urban centres, from Chongqing in the nation’s southwest through Wuhan in central China, to the coastal eastern powerhouses of Nanjing and Shanghai in the affluent Yangtze River Delta, where the river empties into the East China Sea.