Gansu to Build Asia's Largest Water Conservancy Scenic Spot in Desert

It sounds impossible to build a water conservancy scenic spot in the desert. But Gansu Province, one of China's driest areas in the northwest, is about to establish Asia's largest water conservancy scenic spot in a desert based on a reservoir built in the 1950s.

Yingying has more.

Located in Minqin County, Gansu Province, the Hongyashan Water Park recently passed a national review for construction. It will become Asia's largest water conservancy scenic spot in the desert within three to five years. Covering an area of 25 square kilometers, the scenic spot will offer tourists fishing, sightseeing and hunting.

Fu Jinding is an official with the Gansu Provincial Water Resources Bureau.

"We hope to provide a leisure platform for local people and enhance visitors' awareness of the protection of water resources as well as increase the local government's fiscal revenue. It's rare to see a water conservancy scenic spot in a desert. Visitors will get a distinct experience here."

Hongyashan Reservoir is Asia's largest reservoir built in the desert in 1958. With a water storage capacity of 127 million cubic meters, it irrigates more than 60-thousand hectares of land which is surrounded on three sides by desert.

Wang Jianbin, a researcher with Gansu Academy of Social Sciences, explains.

"Minqin cannot exist without the reservoir. Since the 1970s, the desert in the northwest has been gradually expanding, leading to serious desertification and frequent sandstorms in the county. Large water diversion projects such as the diversion of water from a nearby oasis through an underground pipe to the Hongyashan Reservoir were implemented. It has guaranteed water supply in Minqin."

Wang Jianbin says the reservoir will continue to play its role in irrigation and flood control after it becomes a scenic spot. It will not damage the ecological environment in Minqin, but instead boost the development of local environmental protection efforts.

"The land in Gansu is low-yield due to water shortages. Farmers will be encouraged to return the land for farming to forestry so as to develop tourism. They will earn more with the development of tourism industry, and Minqin's ecological conditions will be largely improved."

Wang Jianbin says Minqin is one of the sandstorm sources in northern China. The improvement of its ecological environment will play a positive role in improving the environmental condition of the whole country.

For CRI, I'm Yingying.