Yongding River to flourish thanks to huge project

A project launched yesterday to rebuild the ecology of the Yongding River is likely to flow an additional 100 million cu m of water a year into Beijing's underground storage system, greatly easing the city's thirst.

The government is investing 17 billion yuan on improving the river's shattered ecology and hopes the area in southwest Beijing will become a green haven as a result.

According to the plan, the ecological development zone will extend for 170 km and cover 1,500 sq km by 2014. It will add 1,000 hectares of water surface space and 9,000 hectares of vegetation to the city.