Deputy Minister of Transport Xu Zuyuan attended a Hunan provincial government work meeting on 2 December where a plan was set out to upgrade its inland waterway system within the next two decades.

At the first provincial government meeting focusing on the waterway since 1949, Governor Han Yongwen said that his government will spend Rmb170bn in the next 20 years to build a modern and comprehensive inland waterway system to support the local economy. The governor hopes that 20 per cent of all Hunan’s freight volumes by then will be transported by waterway.

Yueyang in northeast Hunan is one of the 24 major ports along the Yangtze and the province also boasts major tributaries such as Dongting Lake and the Xiangjiang River.