On November 1, at the construction site of the Tuxikou Reservoir in Xuanhan County, Dazhou City, tower cranes and truck-mounted concrete pumps stood in great numbers as the dam continued to "grow taller." Zhu Guoping, head of the Tuxikou Reservoir Project Department of China Energy Engineering Group Gezhouba No. 3 Engineering Co., Ltd., the construction contractor, had to report construction progress to all participating parties every day, spurring everyone on to sprint toward the annual target of 90 meters. "The dam has already reached 76.5 meters."

Currently, the province has 2,287 water conservancy projects of various types under construction, with a total investment of 276.6 billion yuan—an unprecedented scale. In the fourth quarter, how will water conservancy projects under construction "run at full capacity" to complete the established annual targets? Let us walk into the water conservancy project construction sites together.

Racing Against the Clock

Keeping a close eye on construction milestones and striving to generate more physical output

In recent days, the Tuxikou Reservoir has been pouring the "dam corbel." "Simply put, it is a special support structure that, like a corbel, firmly supports the buildings or equipment above, ensuring the stability and safety of the entire water conservancy project," introduced an on-site construction technician.

"The completion of the 'corbel' directly affects the subsequent construction progress and safety," said Zhu Guoping. Because the steel liner at this section weighs more than 500 tons and the rebar is densely tied, it has a huge impact on normal concrete pouring. "One of the difficulties is the many cross-operation procedures between metal structure installation and civil engineering pouring."

To complete the annual dam pouring target of 90 meters on schedule, construction workers carried out pouring by zones and blocks, using various means of placing concrete into the forms—tower cranes, truck-mounted pumps, chutes and others—to improve concrete pouring efficiency while ensuring quality.

Going all out to accelerate progress has become one of the "main themes" of water conservancy project construction in the fourth quarter.

In Jingyan County, Leshan City, the Baijing Main Canal project construction command headquarters issued a call to "work hard for 100 days," with the principal responsible officials of the local county Party committee and county government serving as commanders, and 10 officials drawn from across the countycentral officeto coordinate and advance the project schedule. "Within this year, Section I must complete the target of driving 3,000 meters of tunnel. Even if we encounter many difficulties, we will do everything possible to ensure the target is met," said Wang Wenjun, technical director of the Baijing Main Canal (Section I) project. On the basis of completing the established targets, efforts will also be made to generate more physical output and workload.

Baijing Main Canal construction site in Jingyan County. Photo courtesy of the interviewee

The head of the Water Conservancy Engineering Construction Division of the Department of Water Resources introduced that since the fourth quarter, the province has been advancing at full speed the construction of 57 large and medium-sized water conservancy projects, including the first phase of the Tingzikou Irrigation District and the Lijiayan Reservoir. A number of backbone projects such as the Gujun Reservoir have completed or are about to complete important milestone targets such as river closure, impoundment and water conveyance, and the first step of the first phase of the North Main Canal of the Xiangjiaba Irrigation District is accelerating its final work...

Focusing on Key Projects

Launching a "combined punch" to advance water conservancy projects funded by government bonds

At noon on November 2, at the site of the Luban Reservoir reinforcement project in Santai County, Mianyang City, large amounts of bubbles kept surfacing underwater.

"This is our divers carrying out underwater operations, including installation of metal structures and concrete pouring," introduced Huang Aimin, technical director of the Luban Reservoir reinforcement project of Sinohydro Foundation Engineering Co., Ltd., the construction contractor. To handle large-scale underwater concrete pouring, the contractor formed an underwater construction team of 40 divers, divided into five crews working in rotation underwater, "with the aim of accelerating construction progress as much as possible."

Luban Reservoir reinforcement project construction site. Photo by Shao Mingliang

It is understood that this year the province has 568 water conservancy projects included in the scope of support from additional government bond funds, with a total investment of 71.8 billion yuan, of which 25.4 billion yuan is allocated in government bond funds. The Luban Reservoir reinforcement project is one of them, receiving 164 million yuan in government bond funds.

"Going all out to advance government-bond-funded water conservancy projects is the top priority of current work," said the head of the Water Conservancy Engineering Construction Division of the Department of Water Resources. As of the end of June this year, all 568 government-bond-funded water conservancy projects in the province had started construction, and 20.5 billion yuan of government bond funds had been utilized, a completion rate of 81%.

Although the completion rate has exceeded 80%, according to national and provincial requirements, it is still under considerable pressure to ensure 100% utilization and payment of government bond funds by the end of December this year.

How to "solve the problem"? Sichuan has launched a "combined punch."

On the one hand, the Department of Water Resources has established a government-bond water conservancy project advancement group led by its principal leaders, and has studied the advancement of government bond projects at special meetings many times. At present, the department has organized more than 20 government bond project scheduling meetings or video conferences, strengthening the three-tier "joint diagnosis" of province, city and county and joint consultation among multiple departments, studying and resolving bottleneck and difficult issues, and advancing the accelerated construction of government bond projects. On the other hand, targeting specific problems, the department has also "prescribed remedies" point by point. Earlier, the department, together with the Provincial Development and Reform Commission and the Department of Finance, sent letters to cities (prefectures) and counties (cities, districts) lagging in progress, urging accelerated advancement of government bond projects; for specific engineering projects, the department conducted point-to-point interviews and scheduling as appropriate, analyzing causes and accelerating progress.

A responsible person of the Department of Water Resources said that next, relevant policies and measures will be formulated to impose penalties on seriously lagging government-bond water conservancy projects and relevant regions, ensuring that the fund payment target is completed on schedule.

Expanding Increments

New projects "launched" and reserve projects "put on the agenda"

Entering the fourth quarter, new projects are also continuously being "launched."

"The preliminary design of the Guankou Reservoir construction project in Gulin County has been approved, the financial review has been completed, and bidding preparations are underway, with construction expected to start in December this year," introduced Yang Bo, a senior engineer at the Luzhou Municipal Water Affairs Bureau. Guankou Reservoir is a medium-sized reservoir serving both agricultural irrigation and urban-rural water supply, and is also a key water conservancy project advanced by Luzhou City in the fourth quarter, with a planned total investment of 1.18 billion yuan.

In Yibin City, the local government is actively advancing the feasibility study preparation for medium-sized reservoirs such as Renhe and Jinke, promoting the start of construction of the Hengjiang flood control project, and striving to fully implement 7 billion yuan of water conservancy investment and complete 7 billion yuan of investment in 2024 on a full-caliber basis.

From bidding to new construction starts, the investment increment of water conservancy projects across the province continues to expand. Behind the constantly refreshed "progress bar" is meticulous preparation that insists on "leaning forward."

"There will be many reserve projects and new projects in the period ahead, and they must be 'put on the agenda' as early as possible," said the head of the Water Conservancy Engineering Construction Division of the Department of Water Resources. In the fourth quarter, the province is expected to start construction on four large and medium-sized water conservancy projects, and in 2024 it is expected to fully implement 85 billion yuan of water conservancy investment and strive to complete 70 billion yuan of investment.

The Tuxikou Reservoir dam under construction. Photo by Wu Wenfeng

Looking ahead to next year, a responsible person of the Department of Water Resources said that, with the two major projects of diverting water from the Dadu River to the Min River and the modernization of the Dujiangyan Irrigation District as the spearhead, a batch of large and medium-sized projects will be started; a batch of major projects such as the first phase of the Tingzikou Irrigation District and the Qingyukou Reservoir will be continuously advanced; the dam pouring of the Tuxikou Reservoir will be capped; the Longtang Reservoir and its irrigation district will be basically completed; and the Jiangjiakou Reservoir will complete gate closure and impoundment, among others; with the six major projects including the first phase of the Pihe River water supply project and the second phase of the Wuyin Irrigation District as the focus, a batch of major projects will be completed and reach the conditions for completion acceptance...

With the construction of major water conservancy projects as the "bull's nose," Sichuan's water conservancy has formed a virtuous development pattern of completing acceptance for a batch, accelerating construction of a batch, starting construction of a batch as early as possible, and actively reserving a batch.