The groundbreaking ceremony of the Pinglu Canal is held on Aug 28. [Photo by Wang Yizhao/China News Service]

Construction of the Pinglu Canal, a backbone project of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, began on Aug 28, with the project expected to be completed in 54 months at a cost of 72.73 billion yuan ($10.51 billion).

Minister of Transport Li Xiaopeng said during the project's groundbreaking ceremony that the Pinglu Canal is of significant importance in terms of upgrading China's water transportation network, accelerating the building of China's comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network, and building the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor.

Li added that the project is of great strategic significance to the economic and social development of Guangxi and Southwest China.

Liu Ning, Party secretary of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, said that the Pinglu Canal will provide a shorter water transportation route to the sea for Guangxi, as well as other regions in southwest and northwest China. It will also be a new shipping route accessing the sea through the golden waterway of the Xijiang River, which will help boost Guangxi's integration into the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

The 135-km Pinglu Canal will start from the Pingtang River's estuary of the Xijin Reservoir in Nanning's Hengzhou. It then merges with the Qinjiang River at Luwu town of Qinzhou's Lingshan county before heading towards the sea at Qinzhou's Shajing Port.