The Central Economic Work Conference emphasized the need to focus on expanding domestic demand. Major projects, with their large scale and long construction cycles, can effectively absorb investment and expand domestic demand, unleash the demand potential of China's super-large domestic market, and consolidate and strengthen the momentum of economic recovery and improvement.

At the start of the new year, localities are accelerating the advancement of major projects. On the first working day after the Spring Festival holiday, reporters visited major project construction sites in many places to experience the vigorous practice of stimulating effective investment.

Henan —

Continuing to Advance the Construction of Key Water Conservancy Projects

At noon on February 18, at the construction site of the Yuanwan Reservoir Project in Xinyang City, Henan Province, workers were in the midst of intense construction, with sparks flying at the site where the reinforcement of the cutoff wall was being welded. On the road not far away, engineering vehicles shuttled back and forth, presenting a busy scene.

The Yuanwan Reservoir Project is located on the upper reaches of the Huang River, a first-level tributary on the right bank of the Huai River, and has been included in the national list of 150 major water conservancy projects. It is understood that the Yuanwan Reservoir Project has a total investment of 5.516 billion yuan, and its main construction content includes the dam, overflow surface outlets, flood discharge bottom outlets, water conveyance tunnels, and a power station. After completion, the project will not only significantly raise the flood control standard for the polder areas above Wangjiaba on the main stream of the Huai River, but also irrigate 116,000 mu of farmland and provide 50.4 million cubic meters of water annually for urban domestic and industrial use.

"At present, the project pours 1,300 cubic meters of concrete per day. The concrete dam pouring has been completed by 70 percent, and the earth dam filling has also been completed by nearly 60 percent, achieving more than half of the total construction period and more than half of the tasks completed." According to the relevant person in charge of the Yuanwan Reservoir Project, the project plans to remove the upstream and downstream cofferdams of the dam in October this year, divert water through the flood discharge bottom outlets, and begin filling the dam body in the diversion open channel section, with the reservoir expected to be impounded by closing the gates in October 2025.

At the start of the new year, Henan has successively started construction on a batch of water conservancy facilities. "This year, Henan Province will complete the formulation of the upgrading plan for the South-to-North Water Diversion supporting projects, fully start construction of the flood control impact treatment project of the middle route of the South-to-North Water Diversion, and accelerate the preliminary work of storage projects such as Guanyinsi, Yuquan, and Shatuo Lake." According to Shen Jiwei, Party Secretary and Director of the Henan Provincial Department of Water Resources, Henan will accelerate the construction of a modern water network and strive to improve the benefits of the water conservancy infrastructure network. At present, Henan has launched 196 key water conservancy projects in two batches, with a total investment of 70 billion yuan.

Four projects, including the comprehensive treatment of the Jialu River, the second phase of the Zhaokou Yellow River diversion irrigation area, and the south bank irrigation area of Xiaolangdi, have been completed and put into operation, while five projects, including the Henan section of the Yangtze-to-Huaihe Water Diversion and the Huai River water supply and irrigation project for the Dabie Mountains old revolutionary base area, have basically been completed... In 2023, Henan Province's water conservancy construction investment and scale reached a record high.

Accelerating water conservancy project construction is an epitome of Henan Province's continued efforts to firmly grasp project construction and implement the "three batches" project construction activities on a rolling basis. Since the beginning of this year, localities in Henan have held the 11th phase of the "three batches" project construction activities to provide support for economic development in the first quarter. Data show that at present, localities in Henan have signed a batch of 751 projects with a total investment of 664.3 billion yuan; started a batch of 795 projects with a total investment of 841.6 billion yuan; and carried over a batch of 1,672 projects put into operation, with a total investment of 1.49 trillion yuan.

Hubei —

Accelerating the Construction of Key Transportation Facilities

On February 18, walking into the construction site of the Yichang North Station project in Longquan Town, Yiling District, Yichang City, Hubei Province, the main frame structure of the south station building had already taken initial shape. Several concrete pump trucks were pouring the roof slab of the elevated waiting hall level, and hundreds of workers were carrying out operations such as tying reinforcement and setting up formwork in an orderly manner.

Yichang North Station is an important hub node on the Wuhan-Yichang section of the Shanghai-Chongqing-Chengdu High-Speed Railway. The station has a scale of 9 platforms and 20 tracks, with a total construction area of about 170,000 square meters, and officially started construction in April 2023. "At present, more than 80 percent of the main structure construction of the south station building has been completed. We will reverse the schedule and step up construction, going all out to meet the milestone goal of completing the concrete main structure of Zone A of the station building by March 30." According to Zhu Xiong, Party branch secretary of the No. 3 bid section project of the Yichang North Station building of China Railway Construction Engineering Group, the project is expected to be completed and put into use in September 2025, by which time it will connect the urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle, further improving the comprehensive three-dimensional transportation corridor of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

At the end of last year, construction officially began on two high-speed railways: Yichang to Fuling (Hubei section) and Yichang to Changde (Hubei section); on January 2 this year, construction began on the Hefei-Wuhan section of the Shanghai-Chongqing-Chengdu High-Speed Railway... Today, Hubei is accelerating the construction of a "super rice-shaped" high-speed railway network centered on Wuhan, forming a multi-directional radial pattern centered on Xiangyang and Yichang. At present, there are 8 high-speed railways under construction in the province, 5 of which have entered the comprehensive construction stage.

High-speed railway construction is in full swing, and highway construction is also advancing in an orderly manner. Not long ago, the fourth bid section of the northern section (Huangpi to Xinzhou section) of the Wuhan Metropolitan Area Ring Expressway project started in Taipingqiao Town, Hong'an County; at the same time, at the other end of this ring expressway — the construction site of the Hannan Yangtze River Bridge — the construction site located on the riverbank has been leveled, a large number of transport vehicles are shuttling to transport earthwork, and large machinery such as pile drivers has entered the site for comprehensive construction.

"As an important node connecting the Wuhan Metropolitan Area Ring Expressway, the Hannan Yangtze River Bridge and its connecting project has an investment scale of 28.9 billion yuan, making it the largest single-investment project among Hubei's key transportation projects at present." According to a relevant person in charge of the Hubei Provincial Department of Transportation, the project is expected to be completed and opened to traffic within 4 years. In 2024, Hubei will continue to focus on key projects in transportation infrastructure such as expressways and railways, accelerate the interconnection of rail, water, highway, and air transport, and plans to complete 183 billion yuan of investment in highway and waterway transportation for the year.

It is reported that in the first quarter of this year, Hubei will take expressways as the main engine of transportation investment, accelerate the preliminary work of 34 projects including the Xiangyang section of the Xiangyang-Yichang Expressway, and at the same time accelerate 17 expressway reconstruction and expansion projects. At present, localities throughout the province have declared 126 new transportation projects to start construction in the first quarter, with a total investment of 73.96 billion yuan.

Sichuan —

Construction of Major Energy Facility Projects in Full Swing

Inside the access tunnel to the plant, people come and go, and machines roar. On February 18, in the Lianghekou Hybrid Pumped-Storage Power Station area of the Yalong River Hydropower Development Company in Yajiang County, Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, builders at the site held tools and stepped up project operations.

"This project is a '15th Five-Year Plan' implementation project under the National Medium- and Long-Term Development Plan for Pumped-Storage Hydropower (2021-2035), and is also a key project of Sichuan Province in 2024." According to Zhang Dongming, Director of the Lianghekou Pumped-Storage Construction Management Bureau of the Yalong River Company, in December 2022, the Lianghekou Hybrid Pumped-Storage Power Station was approved to start construction. At present, 1,350 meters of excavation and support of the power station's access tunnel to the plant have been completed, with more than 800 meters remaining.

It is reported that the pumped-storage power station project plans to install 4 reversible units of 300,000 kilowatts each. Together with the 3 million kilowatts of installed capacity of the already-built Lianghekou Hydropower Station as conventional units, the total installed capacity will reach 4.2 million kilowatts. Converted on the basis of the balance of pumped and generating water volumes, the annual power generation is 1.397 billion kilowatt-hours, making it a super-large hybrid "power bank."

"The Lianghekou Hybrid Pumped-Storage Power Station can promote the construction of a 10-million-kilowatt-level renewable energy base in the middle reaches of the Yalong River and facilitate the integrated consumption of new energy in central Garze Prefecture." Zhang Dongming said that the power station can also significantly improve the power source structure and power transmission quality of the outgoing corridor, reduce transmission costs, and help the power grid operate safely and stably. Through the integrated development of water, wind, solar, and storage, the power station can adjust about 7 million kilowatts of randomly fluctuating wind and photovoltaic power into smooth and stable high-quality power sources.

"Previously, we mainly carried out construction on preliminary auxiliary caverns such as the access tunnel to the plant and the plant ventilation tunnel. At present, the full length of the power station's maintenance tunnel is 265.5 meters, and excavation and support have been fully completed." According to Zhang Dongming, after the Spring Festival, the power station has entered an accelerated stage of construction.

Meanwhile, at the construction site of the Sichuan-Chongqing UHV AC project (Aba to Chengdu East 1,000 kV AC project), newly started this year, workers were transporting construction materials into the site. The project has a total investment of 14.5 billion yuan, and after completion it will help transmit clean energy from the Aba area to the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle. "The project is expected to be completed and put into operation in 2025, after which it can transmit more than 35 billion kilowatt-hours of clean electricity to the Chengdu-Chongqing region each year," said the project leader.

Since the beginning of this year, Sichuan has steadily advanced major energy projects, focusing on strengthening and supplementing the energy industry chain. Data show that among Sichuan Province's 700 key projects in 2024, there are 10 newly started and continued energy infrastructure projects and 56 energy industry projects. In 2024, Sichuan has listed a total of 700 key projects, with an estimated annual investment of 761.64 billion yuan, an increase of 54.58 billion yuan over 2023.