On the morning of April 22, 2024 (Monday), the Ministry of Water Resources held a press conference on the progress and effectiveness of water conservancy infrastructure construction in the first quarter of 2024.
Li Xiaolin
Since the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Water Resources has taken strong and effective actions to refine and implement various measures, and to speed up the construction of water conservancy infrastructure with the strength of the whole industry to achieve a good start.
Today, we hold a press conference on the progress and effectiveness of water conservancy infrastructure construction in the first quarter of 2024, mainly to introduce the relevant work to you. Present at the press conference were: Chen Min, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Water Resources, Xie Yibin, first-level inspector of the Planning and Planning Department, Zhang Wenjie, director of the Operation Management Department, and Zhang Dunqiang, first-level inspector of the Rural Water Conservancy and Hydropower Department.
Next, we would like to invite Vice Minister Chen Min to make an introduction.
Chen Min
Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to welcome you to this press conference and sincerely thank you for your long-term concern and support for water conservancy work.
Since the beginning of 2024, the Ministry of Water Resources has been guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, actively practicing General Secretary Xi Jinping's idea of "giving priority to water conservation, spatial balance, systematic governance, and working with both hands" for water governance, fully implementing the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the Second Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee, the Central Economic Work Conference, and the Central Rural Work Conference, coordinating high-quality development and high-level safety, focusing on the key tasks of the "National Water Network Construction Planning Outline", and in accordance with the "Government Work Report" Work deployment, rapid action, detailed measures, grasp responsibility, planning, projects, projects, construction, evaluation, speed up the construction of water conservancy infrastructure with the strength of the whole industry, achieve a good start, and make positive contributions to the sustained improvement of the economy.
First, the number of implemented projects exceeded that of the same period last year. Pay close attention to the project approval, construction progress, and responsibility implementation, carry out scheduling consultations, and make every effort to promote the implementation of the project. In the first quarter, 23,500 water conservancy projects were implemented nationwide, with a scale of 4.7 trillion yuan under construction, an increase of 15.8 percent and 12.3 percent respectively over the same period last year. Among them, 9,683 water conservancy projects were newly started, with an investment scale of 473.3 billion yuan, an increase of 33.8 percent and 47.6 percent respectively over the same period last year. In particular, 687 water conservancy projects with a total investment of more than 100 million yuan were started, an increase of 94.6 percent over the same period last year. The implementation of a large number of projects has laid the foundation for maintaining the scale and progress of the construction of the water conservancy infrastructure system.
Second, the completion of investment hit a record high in the same period in history. Establish a supervision mechanism for sub-project types and sub-river basins, guide all localities to strengthen project construction management, and accelerate the progress of construction. In the first quarter, 778.7 billion yuan was invested in water conservancy construction, an increase of 93.3 percent over the same period last year, and 193.3 billion yuan was invested in water conservancy construction, an increase of 4.4 percent over the same period last year, the highest in the same period in history. Among them, six provinces, including Guangdong, Hebei, Zhejiang, Fujian, Sichuan and Shandong, have completed an investment of more than 10 billion yuan, effectively playing a role in stimulating the economy. At present, 4,753 water conservancy projects with additional treasury bonds have been implemented, with an investment of 76.75 billion yuan, and the overall progress is smooth.
Third, the role of water conservancy construction in stabilizing employment is prominent. The number of water conservancy projects started is large, the ability to absorb employment is strong, and large-scale water conservancy construction directly provides a large number of jobs. In the first quarter, the construction of water conservancy projects absorbed 730,000 jobs, an increase of 3.8 percent over the same period last year, of which 577,000 were rural laborers, an increase of 13.2 percent over the same period last year.
Fourth, the construction of major water conservancy projects has been accelerated. The Pearl River Delta water resources allocation project has been opened to water in its entirety, and a number of major national water network projects, such as the middle line of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, the second phase of the Huaihe River inlettu, the allocation of water resources around the Beibu Gulf, and the improvement of the Wusong River in Taihu Lake, have been accelerated. Plan ahead of time for major water conservancy projects that will focus on promoting the preliminary work in 2024, guide local governments to establish a "work list" for feasibility study review and approval, pre-requisite handling, implementation of work responsibilities, and completion time limits, reverse the construction period, and wall chart operations, and promote the opening of projects more and earlier. This year, 13 major projects have been started, including the treatment of the Tongling section of the main stream of the Yangtze River, the Leping water conservancy hub in Jiangxi, the treatment of the Ningxia section of the Yellow River, the comprehensive improvement of the third section of the Yongding River in Beijing, the Jiangjiayaoze Reservoir in Shaanxi, the Xiajiang Irrigation Area in Jiangxi, and the Meishan Irrigation Area in Hunan.
In the next step, the Ministry of Water Resources will thoroughly implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's ideas on water governance and the spirit of the important exposition on water control, in accordance with the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, with a sense of urgency and mission of seizing the day, go all out to accelerate the construction of water conservancy infrastructure, complete the annual goals and tasks with quality and quantity, solidly promote the high-quality development of water conservancy, and make new contributions to water conservancy to consolidate and enhance the positive trend of economic recovery and promote the effective improvement of the quality and reasonable growth of the economy.
That's all I have to say. Now, my colleagues and I are ready to answer questions from journalists.
Li Xiaolin
Thank you, Vice Minister Chen Min. Now let's move on to the question session, and please let us know your news organization before asking a question. Please raise your hand and ask questions.
Q&A session
Q&A 1
China Central Radio and Television Station
After last year's floods, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council decided to issue an additional 1 trillion yuan of treasury bonds for infrastructure construction. How much of the 1 trillion yuan of treasury bond funds will be used for water conservancy projects? How many water conservancy projects will be involved, and what kind of expected benefits will these projects have after they are completed? Thank you!
Chen Min
Okay, that's a question that is of great concern to all parties, and I'll answer it.
In order to implement the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, the state issued an additional 1 trillion yuan of treasury bonds last year to support post-disaster recovery and reconstruction and improve disaster prevention, mitigation and relief capabilities, and took water conservancy as a key area of support. Funds for the issuance of additional treasury bonds have been issued in three batches, of which more than 7,800 projects in four categories have been implemented in the field of water conservancy.
The first category is the backbone flood control projects focusing on the Haihe River and Songhua River basins and other northern regions, including the flood control of the main streams of large rivers and lakes, the construction of new large and medium-sized reservoir sluices, flood storage and detention areas, and the flood control impact treatment projects of the South-to-North Water Diversion. The second category is other key flood prevention projects, including the control of small and medium-sized rivers and mountain floods, hydrological infrastructure, the removal and reinforcement of sluices of sick and dangerous reservoirs, and the construction of drainage capacity in key areas. The third category is the construction of irrigation areas and the control of soil erosion. It includes supporting the construction and renovation of irrigation areas in major grain-producing areas and areas with better water and soil resources, as well as erosion gully control in the black soil area of Northeast China and soil erosion control in the Danjiangkou reservoir area. The fourth category is other water conservancy projects.
After the completion of these projects, 10,000 kilometers of embankments will be built and reinforced, 28,000 kilometers of rivers will be renovated, 25.5 billion cubic meters of reservoir capacity will be added and improved, 60 million mu of irrigation area will be added and improved, 10,000 square kilometers of soil erosion control area will be added, safety monitoring facilities and equipment will be installed for 15,000 reservoirs, and 3,500 hydrological stations will be built and reconstructed, so as to greatly improve the level of water conservancy facilities and flood control facilities.
At present, 4,753 water conservancy projects with additional treasury bonds have been implemented, with an investment of 76.75 billion yuan, and the overall progress is relatively smooth. In the next step, all localities should speed up the construction of the project, strengthen the supervision of key links such as construction quality, production safety, implementation progress, and use of funds, implement the water conservancy projects with additional treasury bonds, and give full play to the project benefits in a timely manner. Thank you!
Q&A 2
People's Daily
We understand that a number of major water conservancy projects have started this year, what types of projects are the main ones, and what projects will be started in the near future? Thank you!
Chen Min
Okay, now I invite my colleague Mr. Xie Yibin to answer.
Xie Yibin
Thank you for your question. As Vice Minister Chen Min said just now, up to now, 13 major water conservancy projects have been started this year, mainly including two types:
The first category is that there are 9 flood control projects in the river basin, including the comprehensive treatment of the Tongling section of the Yangtze River, the river control of the Ningxia section of the Yellow River, the flood control of the Xin'an River basin in Anhui, the comprehensive improvement project of the third section of the Yongding River in Beijing, the Leping Water Conservancy Hub in Jiangxi, the Jiangjiayaoze Reservoir in Yulin, Shaanxi, the Louli Reservoir in Hebei, the flood storage and detention area in the Xianxian Pan Area, and the Yongnian Depression Flood Storage and Detention Area. After the completion of these projects, the flood control engineering system of the river basin will be further improved, and the disaster prevention and mitigation capacity of the river basin will be enhanced. For example, the river treatment project in the Ningxia section of the Yellow River mainly carries out river management such as the construction of embankments up to standard, control and guidance, and protection, and further improves the flood control and anti-bullying engineering system of the Yellow River. After the completion of the Louli Reservoir Project in Hebei Province, combined with the construction of river channels and embankment projects, the flood control standards of the Weihe River will be improved, the flood control safety of Handan and other areas will be protected, and the flood prevention risk of important infrastructure along the line will be reduced. Xian County Pan Area involves 3 counties of Raoyang, Wuqiang and Xian County in Hebei Province, with a flood storage capacity of about 610 million cubic meters, through flood control projects and safety construction, to create conditions for the safe and effective use of flood storage and detention areas, and to ensure the flood control safety of Ziya River and the safety of people's lives and property in the pan area.
The second category is the allocation of water resources There are four projects, including the Taiping Reservoir in Shandong, the water supply supporting the water conservancy hub in Qinghai Reservoir Gorge, the Xiajiang Irrigation Area in Jiangxi, and the Meishan Irrigation District in Hunan. For example, the Shandong Taiping Reservoir will provide water source guarantee for the starting area of Jinan's new and old kinetic energy conversion, optimize the allocation pattern of Jinan's water resources, and support high-quality economic and social development. After the completion of the Meishan Irrigation Area Project in Hunan Province, it will solve the irrigation demand of 650,000 mu of cultivated land, improve the water supply guarantee capacity of 550,000 people, support the comprehensive revitalization of the countryside, and improve the level of food security.
In the next step, we will speed up the preliminary work of major water conservancy projects and strive to open many batches early. According to the progress of the work, a number of more projects will be started in the second quarter, such as the comprehensive treatment and ecological restoration of the Chaobai River in Beijing, the active flood control project in the flood storage and detention area of the Xiaoqing River, the construction of flood storage and detention areas such as Jiakouwa and Huangzhuang Depression in Tianjin, Dongdian and Wen'anwa in Hebei, and major water conservancy projects such as Huatanzi and Xuanwei in Guizhou and Changtang Reservoir in Guangxi, and strive to maintain the scale and progress of water conservancy infrastructure construction. Thank you!
Q&A 3
Farmer's Daily
A few days ago, the State Council issued the "New Round of 100 Billion Jin Grain Production Capacity Improvement Action Plan (2024-2030)" to fully implement a new round of 100 billion Jin of grain production capacity improvement action.
Chen Min
Next, I would like to invite Mr. Zhang Dunqiang from the Department of Agriculture, Water and Hydropower to answer this question.
Zhang Dunqiang
The new round of 100 billion catties of grain production capacity improvement action plan focuses on the key areas and weak links of grain production, and plans and deploys 9 supporting major projects such as agricultural water conservation and water supply. The Ministry of Water Resources has accurately docked the plan, anchored the development goals, focused on the tasks of agricultural water-saving and water supply projects, systematically planned the development of farmland irrigation across the country, scientifically consolidated and reasonably expanded the irrigation area, and consolidated the water conservancy foundation for agricultural production.
The first is to highlight the planning and guidance and do a good job in top-level design. The Ministry of Water Resources, together with the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and the Ministry of Natural Resources, combined with the construction of water network projects, carried out a balance analysis of water and land resources, compiled a national farmland irrigation development plan, and proposed the development scale, quantity and layout of irrigated area in the next 5 to 10 years. After the release of the new round of 100 billion catties of grain production capacity improvement action plan, the Ministry of Water Resources further improved the planning, optimized the development layout of farmland irrigation, and fully supported the irrigation of farmland in key counties to improve grain production capacity.
The second is to make good use of the treasury bond funds to make up for the shortcomings of irrigation and drainage facilities. Last year, nearly 1,200 projects were issued with additional treasury bonds to support irrigation areas, providing a rare opportunity to promote the high-quality development of irrigation areas, and about 60 million mu of new irrigation area could be restored and improved after the completion of these projects. In accordance with the target requirements of starting construction by the end of June and basically completing the project by the end of December, the Ministry of Water Resources has regularly dispatched, arranged special personnel to keep an eye on the progress, and strengthened supervision at different levels. At the same time, the construction of irrigation projects and spring irrigation water supply should be coordinated, and appropriate measures should be taken according to local conditions to ensure that spring irrigation is not affected. So far, more than half of the irrigation projects supported by the national debt have started.
The third is to adhere to the problem-oriented approach and do a good job in the reserve of irrigation projects. In order to ensure national food security and enhance the comprehensive agricultural production capacity, and promote the construction and transformation of irrigation areas in a scientific and orderly manner, the Ministry of Water Resources, together with relevant departments, guides and urges local governments to focus on the weak links of farmland irrigation, according to the national farmland irrigation development plan, systematically sort out the needs of irrigation area modernization and transformation, establish a database of irrigation area construction and transformation projects for a period of time in the future, refine and deepen feasibility studies, initial design, etc., and lay the foundation for the implementation of the project, so as to be prepared.
Fourth, strengthen support and guarantee and give full play to the radiation effect of the pilot. Adhere to the two-wheel drive of science and technology and reform, with the goal of developing new quality productivity, strengthen the construction of digital twin irrigation areas, and apply relevant achievements throughout the whole process of project design, construction, operation and management. Adhere to the principle of "building the mechanism first, then building the project", and promote the construction of modern irrigation areas with the deepening of the comprehensive reform of agricultural water prices as the traction. Last year, the Ministry of Water Resources launched 21 pilot projects, with an investment of 5.2 billion yuan. In the near future, the second batch of pilot projects will be launched to further explore the supply system of modern irrigation area construction, management and protection policies that are conducive to "two-handed efforts". Thank you!
Q&A 4
China Daily
We know that there are many major water conservancy projects under construction and the investment is relatively large, what measures has the Ministry of Water Resources taken to speed up the construction of the project?
Chen Min
I would like to ask Ms. Zhang Wenjie, Director of the Department of Transportation Management, to answer this question.
Zhang Wenjie
Since the beginning of this year, 13 major water conservancy projects, such as the comprehensive treatment project of the Tongling section of the Yangtze River in Anhui Province and the Taiping Reservoir in Shandong, have started construction, and major water conservancy projects such as the diversion of the Yangtze River to the Huai River and the allocation of water resources around the Beibu Gulf have been accelerated, laying a solid foundation for a good start in the construction of water conservancy projects in the first quarter. At the beginning of the year, the Ministry of Water Resources strictly controlled all aspects of the project construction, achieved the four "good grasps", and accelerated the construction of major water conservancy projects.
First, we should do a good job in starting the construction of the project. Based on the actual situation of the current large-scale water conservancy infrastructure construction, optimize the conditions for the start of the project to ensure the orderly connection and progress of the early stage of the project. For major water conservancy projects that meet the conditions for starting construction, actively establish a contact mechanism with relevant localities, and coordinate and guide the project to start construction in accordance with laws and regulations. In the next step, we will also actively promote the start of construction of major water conservancy projects such as Huatanzi in Guizhou and Changtang in Guangxi.
The second is to do a good job in project progress control. Organize the preparation of annual construction implementation plans for major water conservancy projects, and clarify the annual construction tasks, control nodes and important phased goals to be achieved. Establish and improve the ledger of water conservancy projects under construction, implement dynamic management, and strengthen progress monitoring and analysis. For projects that are progressing slowly, special supervision, on-site supervision and other measures will be adopted to supervise and coordinate the river basin management agencies and relevant localities to break through the blockages, and take a multi-pronged approach to promote the progress of project construction.
The third is to do a good job in project quality management. Organize all localities to follow <质量强国建设纲要>the work objectives and measures of the "Implementation Opinions on Thoroughly Implementing and Improving the Quality of Water Conservancy Project Construction", focus on the strict implementation of the lifelong responsibility system for quality, consolidate the quality management responsibilities of all parties involved in the construction of the project, and effectively strengthen the management of the whole life cycle of the construction quality of water conservancy projects. At the same time, for the development of new quality productivity, improve the project quality management system and standard system, and further consolidate the foundation for promoting the high-quality development of water conservancy project construction.
Fourth, do a good job in the acceptance of the project. The Ministry of Water Resources has always attached great importance to the acceptance of the project, conscientiously organized the special acceptance of major water conservancy projects and the acceptance of important stages, and urged the presiding units to strictly perform the acceptance procedures and standardize the acceptance behavior. In the near future, we will speed up the acceptance of major water conservancy projects such as the Laluo Water Conservancy Project in Tibet to ensure that the projects will give full play to their benefits as soon as possible. Thank you!
Q&A 5
China Financial News
In order to meet the needs of large-scale water conservancy infrastructure construction, how does the Ministry of Water Resources raise water conservancy construction funds through multiple channels?
Chen Min
I have this question for the floor to our colleague in the Planning Division, Mr. Xie Yibin.
Xie Yibin
In 2023, the investment in water conservancy construction will be 1,199.6 billion yuan, setting a new record on the basis of reaching a trillion yuan for the first time in 2022. Among them, the implementation of water conservancy investment is the key. This year, the task of water conservancy construction is still arduous, and the demand for investment is large, so we have adhered to the principle of "working with both hands" between the government and the market, actively expanded the scale of water conservancy investment, and mainly adopted the following measures.
First, we should do a good job in the implementation of financial funds. Guide all localities to actively communicate with development and reform, finance and other departments, strive to increase financial investment, and give full play to the driving and amplifying effect of government investment. The Ministry of Water Resources, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Finance have worked closely together to guide all localities to do a good job in the application of water conservancy projects and to actively strive for the implementation of additional treasury bond funds.
The second is to do a good job in the implementation of local government special bonds. This year's "Government Work Report" proposed that 3.9 trillion yuan of local government special bonds will be arranged. Water conservancy is a key area supported by local government special bonds. The Ministry of Water Resources guides local water conservancy departments to pay close attention to the implementation of the application for local government special bonds in 2024, and provincial water conservancy departments have strengthened the training and guidance of municipal and county water conservancy departments and project legal persons according to the characteristics and financing capabilities of different types of water conservancy projects, and made every effort to strive for more projects to implement local government special bonds.
The third is to strive for more financial support. In recent years, the state has introduced a series of financial policies to actively support the construction of water conservancy infrastructure, and local water conservancy departments and financial institutions have been connected "one-to-one", studying financing plans one by one, making full use of preferential policies such as loan terms, interest rates, and capital ratios, and implementing loan amounts. On April 12, the Ministry of Water Resources held a meeting to promote the financing docking of key water conservancy projects, accurately docking the financing needs of key projects with development policy and commercial financial institutions, and actively striving for financial support.
Fourth, actively attract social capital to participate in the construction and operation of water conservancy. Encourage and guide social capital to participate in the construction and operation of water conservancy projects through franchising, equity cooperation, strategic cooperation and other forms, especially make good use of the new mechanism of government-private cooperation, and attract state-owned and private enterprises to participate through the integration of fundraising, investment, construction and management. At the same time, we will actively promote the pilot of water conservancy infrastructure investment trusts (REITs), give full play to the role of water conservancy investment and financing enterprises, and build a diversified, multi-level and multi-channel water conservancy investment and financing system.
In the next step, the Ministry of Water Resources will further promote the reform of water conservancy investment and financing, coordinate the reform of water prices, market-oriented trading of water rights, and the management system of water conservancy projects, further broaden the channels for long-term financing of water conservancy construction, and ensure the capital demand for large-scale water conservancy construction. Thank you!
Q&A 6
The Paper
Rural drinking water security is an important symbol of consolidating the achievements of poverty alleviation and promoting the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas.
Chen Min
This is an important question, and I would like to ask my colleague, Mr. Zhang Dunqiang, to answer it.
Zhang Dunqiang
Rural drinking water security is an important symbol of consolidating the achievements of poverty alleviation and promoting the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas. At present, the Ministry of Water Resources has decomposed the goals and tasks of rural water supply work this year to various provinces, and will regularly dispatch research and judgment, press forward, and take multiple measures to accelerate the high-quality development of rural water supply.
The first is to strengthen the top-level design. Last year, the Ministry of Water Resources issued the "Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the High-quality Development of Rural Water Supply", which clarified that priority should be given to promoting the integration of urban and rural water supply and the large-scale construction of centralized water supply, implementing the standardized construction and transformation of small water supply projects according to local conditions, and realizing the "3+1" standardized construction and management model of full coverage of county-level unified management and professional management. This year, we will guide all localities to implement the "Guiding Opinions", compile and improve the provincial-level rural water supply high-quality development plan, implement the high-quality development goals and tasks to cities, counties, projects and years, optimize the layout, improve the structure, strengthen management, and improve quality and efficiency.
The second is to promote the standardization of rural drinking water safety at the county level. With the county as a unit, distinguish the differences between the eastern, central, southwestern, northwestern, and northeast regions, clarify the construction standards according to local conditions, encourage qualified localities to take the lead in forming a high-quality development pattern of rural water supply, strictly enforce acceptance procedures, and publish a list of counties that have passed the acceptance of the standardization of rural drinking water safety, and play a leading role.
The third is to carry out in-depth special actions to improve the quality of rural water supply. Research and introduce standards and specifications such as technical regulations for the standardization and improvement of small rural water supply projects, urge all localities to improve purification and disinfection facilities and equipment in accordance with the requirements of the specifications, strengthen the self-inspection of water quality of large-scale rural water supply projects, rely on regional water quality testing centers to strengthen the water quality inspection of small rural water supply projects, strengthen the protection of rural drinking water sources, and improve the rural drinking water safety guarantee system from the water source to the tap.
Fourth, it is necessary to consolidate the achievements of the rural water supply projects that have been built. The Ministry of Water Resources and the Ministry of Finance have issued a central subsidy of 4 billion yuan in 2024 to support the maintenance of rural water supply projects. At the same time, 3 billion yuan of central financial subsidy funds will be allocated to implement the construction of small-scale water diversion projects, focusing on solving problems such as unstable rural water supply sources and insufficient pipeline network transmission and distribution capacity, and improving the scale of rural water supply at the county level. Guide all localities to strengthen the work of protecting drinking water in response to floods and droughts, improve emergency plans for rural water supply, train emergency water supply teams, reserve emergency water supply materials, and establish and improve the rural water supply emergency guarantee system for both peacetime and emergency purposes. Thank you!
Q&A 7
China Water Conservancy News
What is the progress of the reinforcement of the sick reservoir and what work is being considered this year? Thank you!
Chen Min
I would like to ask my colleague Ms. Zhang Wenjie to answer this question.
Zhang Wenjie
Thank you for your question, and let's talk about progress first.
The Party Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to the safety of reservoirs, and the Ministry of Water Resources resolutely implements the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, conscientiously implements the spirit of the Notice of the General Office of the State Council on Effectively Strengthening the Reinforcement and Operation Management of Reservoirs, and follows the Implementation Plan for Reservoir Risk Removal and Reinforcement during the 14th Five-Year Plan It is necessary to tighten and consolidate local responsibilities, establish and improve the normalization mechanism of reservoir risk removal and reinforcement, clarify the annual target plan, guide and strengthen the preliminary work, strictly enforce the capital construction procedures, standardize the organization and implementation of the project, and coordinate and promote the reservoir risk removal and reinforcement work.
At present, the "14th Five-Year Plan" period of the clear reservoir risk removal and reinforcement tasks are progressing smoothly. In terms of large and medium-sized reservoirs, of the 256 large and medium-sized reservoirs identified before 2020, 250 of the remaining 251 have been started and 223 have been completed, and 14 of the 312 new large and medium-sized reservoirs have been completed, and 284 are planned to be implemented in 2024, of which 117 have been started. In terms of small reservoirs, the Ministry of Water Resources has accelerated the implementation of risk removal and reinforcement and monitoring facilities. Since the 14th Five-Year Plan, 14,419 small-scale reservoirs have been reinforced, and 11,626 have been completed, of which 1,233 of the 2,906 reservoirs have been started this year, and 40,533 reservoirs have been built and put into use rainwater monitoring and reporting facilities and 30,620 reservoir dam safety monitoring facilities. Through the implementation of reservoir risk removal and reinforcement and the construction of monitoring facilities, the engineering danger has been effectively eliminated, the monitoring and early warning ability has been improved, and the safety status of the reservoir has been continuously improved.
In the next step, the Ministry of Water Resources will continue to supervise and guide all localities to continue to do a good job in reservoir safety identification, risk removal and reinforcement, monitoring facilities construction and other related work, to ensure the comprehensive and high-quality completion of the "14th Five-Year Plan" goals and tasks, and effectively ensure the safe operation and long-term benefits of reservoirs.
The first is to carry out the safety appraisal of reservoirs and dams on a regular basis. Realize the dynamic management and control of reservoir risks, supervise and guide local governments to strictly implement the safety appraisal methods for reservoirs and dams, ensure the depth of evaluation work, and the necessary exploration and testing shall not be simplified. The implementation of the sales number system, the full realization of the regular "physical examination" of the reservoir normalization, for the timely and accurate study and judgment of the reservoir conditions, to resolve safety risks to provide a solid foundation.
The second is to implement the reservoir risk removal and reinforcement in a timely manner. We should make comprehensive arrangements to speed up the construction of projects for issuing additional treasury bonds, do a good job in the preliminary work for the 757 small reservoir removal and reinforcement projects recently issued by the central financial authorities, and start construction as soon as possible. Strengthen the management of the whole chain of project initial approval, review, bidding, construction quality and safety, acceptance, etc., improve the depth of design and the quality of results, comprehensively respond to and solve the existing disease and risk problems, and ensure that one is reinforced, one is accepted, one is sold and one is effective.
The third is to conscientiously grasp the implementation of monitoring facility projects. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, we should achieve full coverage of rainwater monitoring and reporting facilities in small reservoirs and set up all dam safety monitoring facilities. Strengthen data governance, strengthen the collection, sharing and application of information, and ensure that monitoring facilities are fully functional. At the same time, it actively explores the application of new technologies to provide perfect data backplane support for the construction of digital twin projects. Thank you!
Q&A 8
China Discipline Inspection and Supervision Daily
Last year, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and other northern regions suffered serious floods, and water conservancy projects were seriously damaged. What is the status of the restoration of the water damage project in the above areas so far? Thank you!
Chen Min
Okay, I'll answer that question.
As of April 19, 5,112 of the 5,542 key water damage restoration projects included in the statistics of the Ministry of Water Resources have been repaired, with a total restoration rate of 92.2%, and all are scheduled to be completed by the end of June. Among them, there are 412 important water damage restoration projects involving flood control safety in the three provinces and cities of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, and 362 have been repaired, with a restoration rate of 87.9%.
In order to ensure that the restoration task in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is completed on time, the Ministry of Water Resources has taken the following measures. The first is to guide and speed up the progress of preliminary work. In view of the large number of water-damaged restoration projects in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the tight restoration time, we dispatched the three provinces and cities point-to-point to increase coordination, optimize the preliminary work procedures, count the progress of the preliminary work every half month, and urge individual projects with lagging preliminary work to start construction as soon as possible. The second is to continue to supervise the progress of restoration. Strictly implement the working mechanism of "weekly scheduling and monthly notification", count the progress of scheduling and repair every week, analyze the reasons for the slow progress of each project, and provide targeted technical guidance to ensure the timely progress of the project. The third is to strengthen supervision and inspection. The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region will be regarded as a key area for the supervision and inspection of flood and drought disaster prevention by the Ministry of Water Resources in 2024, and it is planned that the leaders of the ministry will lead a team to conduct key inspections of the water damage restoration projects in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in May, and issue a list of inspection problems to relevant provinces and cities in the form of "one province and one order", rectify the "sales number" within a time limit, eliminate risks and hidden dangers in a timely manner, and ensure flood control safety.
This year, there are many water conservancy projects under construction, especially the large number of projects that have issued additional treasury bonds, including the above-mentioned flood damage restoration projects, and we all need to pay special attention to the safety of the flood season. All localities should take precautions, make good construction arrangements, implement various flood prevention plans and flood relief measures, and ensure the safety of the project during the flood season. Thank you!
Li Xiaolin
Thank you, Vice Minister Chen Min and several other presenters for their introductions. Thank you for your participation, that's all for today's press conference, goodbye everyone.