(Yicai) June 12 -- China will finish a 134-kilometer canal in southern parts of the country by 2026 to connect the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations such as Vietnam and Malaysia.

The Pinglu Canal will have a total investment of about CNY72.7 billion (USD10 billion), Yicai learned. It will cut the journey of ships departing from Guangxi or Yunnan or Guizhou provinces and taking inland waterways to the sea by more than 560 kilometers.

China included the canal as part of its 14th Five-Year Plan and the Vision 2035 plan in 2019, and construction started in August 2022.

The project has already burned through over CNY33 billion and more than 200 million cubic meters of rocks have been removed, said He Junhui, head of the engineering management department of Pinglu Canal Group.

The engineering challenges are huge. For example, Pinglu Canal Construction has dug a 66-meter-deep valley between two mountains to install the world’s largest inland water-saving ship lock which is 300 meters long and 34 meters wide, according to Cheng Yaofei, chairman of the unit of Pinglu Canal.

The company protects the biodiversity of the area by building ecological corridors, as well as animal and fish corridors, He added.

The major infrastructure undertaking has prompted many cities in Guangxi such as Qinzhou to set up industrial parks and logistics facilities. Moreover, Guangxi and the southwestern province of Yunnan agreed to jointly build the Baise water conservancy project for CNY5 billion (USD703.6 million) to establish a waterway from Yunnan to the sea.

The canal will have a cargo volume of 95.5 million tons by 2035 and 120 million tons by 2050, cutting more than CNY5.2 billion in transport expenses per year, according to research results.

Editor: Emmi Laine