China has plans for grand canals
The building scheme is part of an effort to become a “transportation power”
These are good times for local officials who want to build expensive infrastructure. To revive a flagging economy, battered by draconian pandemic-control measures, the central government is giving them freer rein. The southern province of Guangxi has a project that fits the bill: a canal costing $10.5bn that will link its main river system to the sea. It will involve a spree of demolition, digging, dredging and building over the next four and a half years. Mulled over for more than a century, the project began last month.
This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “Change the channel”
From the September 17th 2022 edition
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