China View
July 25, 2006

The Yangtze River estuary will undergo its third major dredging over the next three years.

Shanghai: The estuary of the Yangtze River, China’s longest waterway, is to undergo its third major dredging over the next three years. The project would be put out to tender in August so operations could begin this year, said a spokesman with the Administration for Yangtze River Estuary Navigable Channels under the Ministry of Communications. With a budget of 4.38 billion yuan (547 million U.S. dollars), the project involves dredging navigable channels extending 90.8 km. A two-way sea route, 92.2 km in length and up to 400 meters wide at the bottom and 12.5 meters deep, would follow completion of the dredging project in 2009. It would enable navigation of larger vessels up to 200,000 dead weight tonnage, said the spokesman. The Yangtze River, which empties into the East China Sea, has a serious sedimentation problem, which has at times reduced its depth to under seven meters, restricting passage of larger vessels in the estuary to high tide. Previous dredging increased the depth to 8.5 meters in 2002, and then to 10 meters last November. Dredging is vital for the development of Shanghai as an international shipping center and for economic growth along the river.