Investment boosts water management

China's annual investment in water resources management projects has exceeded 1 trillion yuan ($143.2 billion) for four consecutive years, bringing the total spending during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) to 5.68 trillion yuan.

At a news conference organized by the State Council Information Office on Friday, Chen Min, vice-minister of water resources, emphasized that the investment has effectively contributed to stabilizing economic growth and promoting employment.

Water resources management projects across the country generated 3.15 million jobs in 2025, fueled by a total investment of 1.28 trillion yuan, Chen disclosed.

Over the past five years, the investment has significantly enhanced the country's water supply and flood control capabilities, according to the vice-minister. This was achieved through measures such as reinforcing 17,998 aging and high-risk reservoirs and managing 3,741 small — and medium-sized rivers.

As a result, the country's water supply capacity has increased by 31.8 billion cubic meters, reservoir storage has expanded by 22.3 billion cu m, and more than 3.5 million hectares of farmland have gained access to irrigation.

Chen noted that the consistent investment also significantly contributed to expanding the country's national water network to cover 80.3 percent of its territory.

According to a guideline unveiled by Chinese central authorities in May 2023, the network is a strategic, nationwide infrastructure project aimed at creating an integrated system for water allocation, flood control, and ecological protection.

Zhang Xiangwei, director of the department of planning and programming at the Ministry of Water Resources, said that the consistent investment in water resources management has been sustained by the ministry's dedicated efforts to broaden financing channels.

Zhang highlighted the significant contributions from special local government bonds and preferential, green loans to the investment, as the ministry worked to leverage supportive national policies.

Over the past five years, an average of 327.9 billion yuan in special local government bonds and bank loans was secured annually for developing water resources infrastructure, 2.6 times the level of the previous five-year period, he revealed.

Zhang noted that the ministry has directed local water authorities nationwide to explore models such as concession operations and equity cooperation to attract social capital for the development and operation of water resources infrastructure.

These measures helped draw 548.5 billion yuan in social capital over the past five years, an increase of 86.4 percent compared to the 2016-20 period, he noted.

"The ministry will continue to deepen investment and financing reforms for water infrastructure development and broaden funding channels, as it strives to enhance financial support for accelerating the construction of the national water network," Zhang said.

houliqiang@chinadaily.com.cn