The beginning of construction this week on the Three Gorges new waterway project — which includes what is expected to become the world's largest inland ship lock, a system that uses watertight chambers and gravity to raise and lower vessels, allowing them to bypass sharp changes in elevation along the waterway — marks another step toward advancing the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

As the world's third-longest river and China's most important inland waterway, the more than 6,300-kilometer Yangtze River has long served as a vital artery linking the country's vast western hinterland with its dynamic eastern coast. The Yangtze River Economic Belt spans 11 provincial-level regions, is home to roughly 40 percent of the country's population, and consistently generates around 47.3 percent of the country's economic output. It is also one of the country's major hubs for foreign trade.

The waterway project comes in response to a practical need. The existing Three Gorges ship lock, designed for an annual cargo throughput of 100 million metric tons, surpassed that capacity as early as 2011. By 2025, cargo throughput had exceeded 170 million tons. The bottleneck has increased waiting times and logistics costs.

Once completed, the new waterway will raise the annual cargo-handling capacity of the Three Gorges hub to 336 million tons, nearly double its current level. It will help facilitate the smoother flow of goods, strengthen industry and supply chains, and inject new momentum into the development of the economic belt.

Beyond its economic significance, the project once again highlights China's world-class capabilities in infrastructure construction and engineering innovation. With a total investment of 77.2 billion yuan ($11.39 billion), the project is expected to set multiple world records in inland ship lock construction, including vessel dimensions, lock chamber size and excavation scale. Building such a massive hydraulic structure under complex geological and hydrological conditions represents a formidable engineering challenge.

As the first major project to break ground during China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) period, it demonstrates the country's strong capacity to plan, design and execute mega infrastructure projects that serve long-term national development goals. From the Three Gorges Dam to the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and now the Three Gorges new waterway, China continues to transform ambitious visions into reality through technological innovation, scientific planning and efficient implementation.

Equally noteworthy is the project's commitment to ecological protection. The Yangtze River is one of China's most important ecological treasures. The project reflects the principle that development and environmental protection can advance hand in hand.

Ecological considerations have been incorporated from the earliest stages of the project's planning and design. Dedicated fish passages will help maintain aquatic biodiversity, while construction methods have been carefully selected to minimize disturbances to river ecosystems. Particularly striking is the decision to modify the original design to avoid disturbing the spawning grounds of the Chinese sturgeon, a national first-class protected aquatic wild animal and a flagship species of the Yangtze River. Although this increased project costs by approximately 2 billion yuan, it underscores China's determination to prioritize ecological conservation alongside development.

The Three Gorges new waterway project is therefore an epitome of China's pursuit of innovation-driven, green and high-quality development. By easing a critical transportation bottleneck while safeguarding the ecological health of the Yangtze River, the project will help transform the nation's "golden waterway" into an even more powerful engine of sustainable growth.

— LI YANG, CHINA DAILY