The total investment is approximately 76.6 billion yuan! The survey and design bidding of the new Three Gorges Water Transportation Channel has started.
After the National Development and Reform Commission recently officially approved the feasibility study report of the Three Gorges Water Transportation Channel project, on June 4, China's Three Gorges Electronic Procurement Platform issued the "Announcement on the Survey and Design Bidding of the New Three Gorges Water Transportation Channel Project". The total static investment of the feasibility study phase of the Three Gorges Water Transportation Channel Project is about 76.6 billion yuan, which will become the largest comprehensive project of the Yangtze River main line after the Three Gorges Project.
The National Development and Reform Commission stated in its reply that the golden waterway of the Yangtze River is an important support for the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and the Three Gorges-Gezhouba Hub is a key node in the development of the Yangtze River shipping. The new Three Gorges Water Transportation Channel is the largest comprehensive project that integrates water conservancy, shipping, ecology and other functions on the Yangtze River main line after the Three Gorges Project. Building a new water transport channel in the Three Gorges is an important measure to better implement the development strategy of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and promote economic and social development in the riverside areas. It has very important strategic significance. It can fundamentally solve the problem of navigation bottlenecks and constraints of the Three Gorges-Gezhouba hub, open up the "bottlenecks and checkpoints" of Yangtze River shipping, build and improve the Yangtze River comprehensive three-dimensional transportation corridor that effectively connects various transportation modes, and promote the high-quality development of the Yangtze River comprehensive three-dimensional transportation corridor.
According to the "Search and Design Bidding Announcement of the Survey and Design of the Three Gorges Water Transportation New Channel Project", the Three Gorges Water Transportation New Channel Project includes two parts: the Three Gorges Hub New Channel Project and the Gezhouba Shipping Energy Expansion Project. The total static investment of the feasibility study phase project is about 76.6 billion yuan and the total construction period is 100 months (excluding the 12 months of construction period).
Among them, the new Three Gorges Hub Channel Project is located on the north side of the Three Gorges Ship Lock that has been built in the Yangtze River Three Gorges Water Conservancy Project. It adopts a two-line continuous five-level ship lock scheme, including three parts: upstream pilot channel, downstream pilot channel and main section of the ship lock. The total length of the line is about 6,680 meters. The upper stream import is located near the pier of Xintaipingxi Town, Yichang, and the lower stream exit is located near the Elephant Creek. Each line of ship lock consists of 5 lock chambers and 6 lock heads. The lock chamber is 280 meters long, the bottom width is 40 meters, the minimum water depth on the sill is 8 meters, the engineering channel level is Class I, the design navigable ship ton class is 10,000 tons, and the engineering is Class I.
The Gezhouba Shipping Energy Expansion Project is located on the left side of the Gezhouba Water Conservancy Hub Project that has been built. It adopts the plan to remove the existing No. 3 lock and build a new two-line lock. The project channel level is Class I, and the design navigable ship ton class is 10,000 tons, and the engineering is Class I.
According to previous forecasts, the original design of the Three Gorges ship lock reached 100 million tons in 2030, but in fact, it exceeded 100 million tons as early as 2011, reaching the design pass capacity 19 years ahead of schedule, and exceeded 150 million tons for three consecutive years since 2022, and reached 154 million tons in 2024 - this not only far exceeds the design standard, but the average waiting time for ships is more than 200 hours, and the phenomenon of "barrier blockage" has existed for a long time. Over the years, many provinces and cities in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, such as Chongqing, Sichuan, Hubei, etc., have raised calls for the construction of a new water transport channel in the Three Gorges, hoping to fundamentally solve the problem of insufficient capacity for the Three Gorges ship locks.
In June 2024, the Ministry of Transport issued the "Opinions on Strengthening the Planning and Construction of Coastal and Inland Ports in the New Era", which clearly mentioned "accelerating the preliminary work and construction of the new Three Gorges Water Transport Channel". In December 2024, the Three Gorges Water Transportation New Channel (Hubei) Co., Ltd. was officially established with a registered capital of 10 billion yuan and is wholly owned by China Yangtze River Three Gorges Group Co., Ltd.
In February this year, the Ministry of Transport compiled and issued the "Major Projects and Major Projects for Accelerating the Construction of a Power of Transportation (2025 Edition)". 20 major projects (companies) including the main skeleton interconnection and quality improvement project of the National Comprehensive Three-dimensional Transportation Network, the Yangtze River Economic Belt Comprehensive Three-dimensional Transportation Network, and 45 major projects such as the New Tibet Railway, the Three Gorges Water Transportation New Channel, and the Pearl River Delta Hub (Guangzhou) New Airport have been planned to be launched or carried out in an orderly manner.
