At the third session of the 13th National People's Congress, Wang Aihe, a representative of the National People's Congress and director of the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Transportation, put forward a proposal to start planning and construction of the Gan-Guangdong Canal at the national level to connect the two major water systems. It connects the Yangtze River in the north, Zhushui in the south, passes through the Poyang Lake and the Gan River, flows across the watershed to the Pearl River in Guangdong, and ships can directly travel between Gan and Guangdong provinces. Picture.

Historically, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal—Yangtze River—Poyang Lake—Gan River—Pearl River has been an important north-south channel in China, and has played an important role in promoting economic development along the route. The closest place between the Yangtze River system and the Pearl River system is only 9 kilometers apart.

In fact, the concept of the Ganyue Canal has a long history. According to historical records, Xie Jin, a scholar of the Ming Dynasty, first proposed to excavate the Gan-Yue Canal. He hoped that the ditches would lead the Gan River and Beijiang River to be used for farmland irrigation. Since then, in different historical periods, there have been some opinions or preliminary research on the construction of the Ganyue Canal. In modern times, Sun Yat-sen also mentioned this in his "Guide to the Founding of the People's Republic of China". In the 1930s, the government of the Republic of China once planned this matter but failed. Since the founding of New China, the relevant state departments and the two provinces of Gan and Yue have carried out surveys, investigations and research on many occasions, actively planning to advance the planning and construction of the Gan and Yue Canal.

Since the founding of New China, relevant state departments and the two provinces of Gan and Yue have successively carried out several surveys, investigations and studies, actively planning to advance the planning and construction of the Gan and Yue Canal. According to the relevant documents prepared by the Ministry of Transport, the Gan-Yue Canal starts from the mouth of Poyang Lake in Jiangxi in the north, passes through the main stream of Poyang Lake and Gan River, flows into the Taojiang River through Nanchang and Ganzhou, crosses the watershed in Xinfeng County, Ganzhou, and reaches the water in Guangdong From Nanxiong to Beijiang, Shaoguan, and along the Beijiang to Sanshui estuary of Xijiang, the planned total length is about 1,228 kilometers.

According to the plan, the total length of the Ganyue Canal in Jiangxi is 758 kilometers (about 62% of the total length), and the total length in Guangdong is about 470 kilometers. At present, about 35 kilometers of Xihe River and Xiaohe River in the Yueling section (Xinfeng to Watershed) in Jiangxi are currently not navigable; about 89 kilometers in Zhenjiang River section of the Yueling section (Nanxiong to Watershed) in Guangdong are currently unnavigable.

Wang Aihe believes that the key to the Ganyue Canal Project is to solve the problem of having three-level fairway navigation conditions across the board. According to the existing research results, it is necessary to plan to rebuild 364 kilometers of third-level waterways (152 kilometers in Jiangxi and 212 kilometers in Guangdong), and the planned investment is estimated to be about 150 billion yuan.

Natural conditions are better than the Rhine Danube Canal

As early as the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" water transportation planning vision of Ganzhou City in Jiangxi Province, it was described as follows: The Gan-Guangdong Canal can be built to communicate the Yangtze River and Pearl River water systems. An important prerequisite for development. After the completion of the whole line of the project, 1000-ton ships can pass from the Yangtze River along the Ganjiang River to the Taojiang River across the canal to the Zhenjiang River, the Beijiang River in Guangdong, into the Beijiang River to the Pearl River, and reach Guangzhou directly. By then, the Ganyue Canal will become the golden waterfront for Jiangxi to quickly integrate into the global economy and become a water silk road for Jiangxi to move towards the forefront of world trade.

Some experts said that with the opening of the Gan-Yue Canal, ships from the Yangtze River to the Pearl River Delta will no longer have to bypass Shanghai, Zhejiang, Fujian and other coastal areas. The voyage can be reduced by about 1200 kilometers, greatly reducing transportation costs. In addition, the construction of the Gan-Yue Canal can also reduce the navigable density of the Yangtze River trunk line and reduce the competition between small boats and large ships for navigation. The two major water systems are connected to form the north-south water transportation artery south of the Yangtze River.

Wang Aihe said that the planning and construction of the Gan-Guangdong Canal is of great significance to the formation of the national north-south water transport channel-the Beijing-Guangzhou Canal; it will become the central water transport channel linking the three national strategies of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area; The old revolutionary areas that can radiate Hubei, Anhui, Hunan, Jiangxi, Guangdong and other provinces are important carriers for accelerating the revitalization of the old revolutionary areas. Therefore, Wang Aihe suggested that in view of the great strategic significance of the planning and construction of the Ganyue Canal and the conditions and possibilities for development, it is recommended that the state include the planned construction of the Ganyue Canal in the "14th Five-Year" comprehensive transportation plan, with reference to the Yangtze River trunk channel construction model, The project will be led by the national level (invested by the Ministry of Transport and other ministries), with the participation of the two provinces of Gan and Guangdong, and strive to start construction during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period.

It is understood that the relevant departments have taken the Ganyue Canal as a major engineering project research and demonstration subject to carry out research and demonstration. Editor / Huang Lijun