Minister of Transport Li Shenglin said at the third meeting of the Yangtze Shipping Development and Coordination Task Force on 13 June that China will spend Rmb150bn in the next five years to 2015. Out of this total, Rmb36bn will be spent on dredging the waterway in the trunk line and tributaries, establishing the support system and building common user terminals in the western region.

“By 2015, a safe, smooth, convenient and green water transportation system on the Yangtze River will be generally formed,” said Vice-Minister of Transport Xu Zuyuan.

The government will also spend Rmb1bn each year on the vessel standardisation programme to make sure that, by the end of 2015, the average vessel size on the trunk line will reach 1600dwt, nearly double the current average size.

The task force is made up of local government officials along the Yangtze and central government officials in charge of formulating policies. Their next meeting is scheduled to be held in 2013 in Wuhan.