A Plan of Conduit Between Russia and China

Russia and China are discussing a big investment project. The association on cooperation of Russia, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and China has offered to the Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev connecting Altai Krai and Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China by a 1.5-thousand kilometer water conduit.This will allow to reduce deficiency of fresh water in China, and solve the problem of destructive floods in Altai Krai, Sibnovosti.ru with reference to "Prime"reports.

According to the Association’s estimates, construction of the"Russia – Kazakhstan –Western China" conduit can be implemented in two stages,one in 2026 and the other in 2040. Theplanned capacity of the conduit is 600-700 million cubic meters, about 2 million tons of pipes will be neededfor itsconstruction.
The notional value of 1 km of the pipeline is about 9 million dollars. According to preliminary estimates,the first stage of construction will cost 10.3-13.4 billion dollars, and the second stage will cost 70-75 billion dollars.

"It is possible to finance the projecteither by direct investments of the participating countries on the terms of project financing, or byfund raising from international financial institutions (IBRD, EBRD, IFC, the BRICSBank)," authors of the project say in the letter to the Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
In addition, the project will give Russia an opportunity not only to reduce losses from floods, but also to modernize water supply system and to get access to the latest agricultural technologies.