Recently, the construction mobilization conference for the Phase II key project of the Central Yunnan Water Diversion Project, a landmark major water conservancy project under the national “Two Major” initiative, was held in Anning, Kunming. The conference announced the official start of construction, marking another key step forward in building the Central Yunnan Water Diversion Project as the main framework and backbone artery of Yunnan’s modern, plateau, multi-level water network. The project has a total investment of RMB 9.994 billion, and its key control project is the Xuefengshan Tunnel on the Weishan trunk line.

The site of mobilization conference

The Central Yunnan Water Diversion Project is a foundational project that provides water resource security for the development plan of the Central Yunnan urban agglomeration. It is also currently Yunnan’s largest livelihood and wellbeing project by investment, and is of major significance for Yunnan in achieving its 2035 long range goals and realizing socialist modernization in step with the whole country by 2050. The main task of engineering water supply is to provide water for urban living and industrial use, while also taking into account agricultural irrigation and ecological water demand. The multi-year average diverted water volume is 3.403 billion m³, benefiting a land area of 36,900 square kilometers and serving 11.12 million people.

The project is being implemented in two phases. The first phase project is the main water conveyance line, consisting of the water source project and the water conveyance project. The source works include the construction of a pumping station with an installed capacity of 480 MW and an average pumping head of 219 m. The conveyance works include a 664 km main canal, including 58 tunnels totaling 612 km. With a total investment of RMB 82.576 billion, the first phase project broke ground in October 2018.

The second phase project consists of conveyance branches. It will deliver Jinsha River water diverted by the first phase project to 36 counties and county level cities and districts in six prefectures and cities along the route, namely Lijiang, Dali, Chuxiong, Kunming, Yuxi, and Honghe, and to key plateau lakes such as Dianchi Lake, Qilu Lake, and Yilong Lake. The second phase project comprise conveyance works, pumping works, and regulation and storage works, and are divided into backbone works and supporting works. For the second phase project supporting works, the conveyance component includes 168 main and branch lines at various levels, with a total length of 1,769.1 km. The pumping component includes 50 pumping stations with a total installed capacity of 157.4 MW. The regulation and storage component includes one reservoir with a storage capacity of 5.302 million m³. With a total investment of RMB 32.909 billion, the the second phase project supporting works started construction in September 2022.

On site view of the Central Yunnan Water Diversion Project

As an integral part of the overall project, the key works of the second phase project connect upstream to the first phase project water distribution outlet and downstream to the canal headworks of the second phase project supporting works, serving as a key “throat” link that bridges the two. According to the feasibility study report for the key works approved by the National Development and Reform Commission, the main construction tasks include: nine newly built conveyance trunk lines, including Weishan, Binchuan East, Shuangbai, Anning, Panlong, Hongta, Tonghai, Shiping, and Mengzi, with a total length of 94.53 km; four newly built pumping stations, namely Baoxiang River, Longquan Level I, Yangliutian, and Datang, with a total installed capacity of 65.5 MW; and four newly built or expanded regulating reservoirs, namely Yangliutian, Datang, Daqing, and Huangpo, with a combined total storage capacity of 51.99 million m³. The project’s total investment is RMB 9.994 billion. The key control project is the Xuefengshan Tunnel on the Weishan trunk line, with a total length of 13.48 km.

As of the end of 2025, the source works of the first phase project had fully entered the equipment installation stage, and its conveyance works had achieved cumulative breakthrough of 627.9 km, accounting for 94.6% of the total 664 km. For the supporting works of the second phase project, cumulative tunnel excavation reached 122.3 km, accounting for 90.5% of the total 135.1 km; pipeline installation and box culvert concreting and related works reached 839.0 km, accounting for 62.8% of the total 1,337 km.